


Behavioural Ecology

by turtlekz



Series: Behavioural Ecology [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Adrenaline, Africa, Alternate Universe, Anal Sex, Angry animals, Director Niall, Eli the Chimpanzee, Flirting, M/M, Minor Fist Fight, Oral Sex, Photographer Harry, Primatologist Louis, Primatologist Zayn, Protector Liam, Rainforest, Republic of the Congo, Smut, Some Descriptions of Animal Abuse, Teasing, alcohol consumption, use of weapons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-18
Updated: 2016-02-18
Packaged: 2018-05-21 12:37:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 81,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6051931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turtlekz/pseuds/turtlekz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis Tomlinson is a primatologist working with the Jane Goodall Institute for primate conservation; and Harry Styles is the photojournalist sent from <em>National Geographic</em> to write a piece promoting awareness about the endangered species. They meet, and love is never, ever simple, <em>as we know.</em></p><p>Featuring Eli the chimpanzee, bickering humans, storytelling, and five men who come to gain an understanding of what it means to be human; all stationed in the Republic of the Congo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay bear with me through these notes!
> 
> First of all, when I got the idea for this story back in JULY, I never expected it to become an 80k fic that I would submit to the 1D Big Bang. It snowballed so fast on me, but honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. 
> 
> I would like to say a huge thank to to a few people: 
> 
> [Alice](http://intenselouis.tumblr.com/), you were kind and so helpful each time we spoke about the fic, thank you for your help with the images used for the post! 
> 
> [Amber](http://loveloveolivia.tumblr.com/), your comments when you edited gave me life, you made me laugh out loud so much. Your exuberance for the story made me only eager to perfect it.
> 
> And lastly to my beta, [Hannah](http://adorablelittleshit.tumblr.com/), the first person I had a conversation with in the fandom, thank you for letting me ramble about the fic, and for being there as someone I could hash out the details about the fic with when I was unsure. _Thank you._
> 
> The Tchimpounga facility that you will read in this story is a real place, and so are the Sanctuary Islands. Most of the information surrounding their descriptions are correct, but has been altered to fit the story. Any descriptions of how the facility _operates_ has been made up. Information about the Republic of the Congo, and Pointe-Noire was found on the Internet.
> 
> All facts about chimpanzees were taken from my university notes during my undergrad. I majored in Anthropology, and took a number of primate behaviour courses. _However,_ I would like to stress that I am by no means a primatologist, or a behavioural ecologist. Nor do I have a PhD. I am human, we make mistakes, so if something is wrong regarding a fact about the primates, let me know, and I’ll consult my notes again. 
> 
> **Disclaimer: This is meant to be a work of fiction, and is in no way a reflection of the real people involved, and therefore no offense is intended. No profit is being made from this work.**
> 
> A wonderful music playlist is located [here](http://8tracks.com/sa_voix/we-are-legends-every-day), and the amazing art for the title is down below. Both were created by the lovely [Leigh](http://sa-voix.tumblr.com/).
> 
> And without further ado, I present to you, a story that is completely made up, but nonetheless is an accurate representation of how the choices individuals make not only affect themselves, but other humans, and _other beings._

The definition of Behavioural Ecology according to Karen B. Strier:  
  
_Behavioural Ecology:_  
1.   The study of behaviour from an evolutionary and ecological perspective;  
2.   Behaviours evolved through natural selection in association with their direct environments;  
3.   Social behaviours.

The moment Harry stepped off the plane he was greeted with a blast of humid air. He sucked in a lungful with the hopes of erasing the smells of the two planes and airports from the last twenty hours or so fumigating within his body. The flight itself from Heathrow had only been about eleven hours, but Harry had to do a transfer in Ethiopia with a two hour wait in-between.

Harry reached up to finger the cross necklace around his neck before drawing his hand down to undo another button of his blouse. It was hot. He yawned before reaching an arm upwards towards the sky and arching his back in a full body stretch. He shook his head and gave his cheek a little pat to try and wake up before re-adjusting the wide brimmed black hat perched on top of his head and pushing the pair of aviators that had slid down during his movements, back up the bridge of his nose. He heard from behind him someone say, ‘hey’ and Harry turned around to address the person before realizing he had held up the queue of people waiting to exit the plane.

“Oops.” Harry shifted the duffle bag in his hand before grabbing the railing of the steps and beginning his descent. The plane was parked on a strip that was surrounded by open fields of lush, green grass. Far off in the distance he could see tinges of red in what looked to be the beginning of suburbs, and if he squinted hard enough, the outline of some office buildings even further.

The airport seemed to be located on the outskirts of the city, Pointe-Noire. Harry didn’t know anything about the Republic of the Congo, only that it was not to be confused with _The Democratic Republic of Congo_. Which, in itself was actually very confusing. He knew that Central Africa consisted of two different Congos which were separated by the Zaire River. Before _The Democratic Republic of Congo_ was colonized by Belgium in the late 19th century it was called ‘Zaire’ prior to gaining its independence in 1960.

The Republic of the Congo, where Harry _currently_ was, was also originally colonized in the late 19th century, but instead by France and similarly, had also gained its independence in 1960. Harry tried to keep the facts straight that he had learned from doing a quick google search after David had deposited the task on him last night, but honestly, who could remember this kind of confusing information this fast? It didn’t help that Harry was still awaiting another email with more notes to accompany the onslaught of information David had given him only twenty hours before.

_“Styles?”_

_David’s voice through the receiver brought Harry back from his musings. He’d been looking around his apartment, dwelling on its inhabited state. He didn’t understand why it seemed so unfamiliar, as some of his photographs were tacked in a collage on the largest wall, while others were in frames placed sporadically throughout the apartment. Knick knacks from every destination he had ever been to were littered over the remaining spaces on desks and shelves. Well, he knew why, it was because he was never situated long within its walls. He had already begun to dread this past week of being ‘home’ again in London. Harry wasn’t entirely sure that this was home—_

_“Styles!” His mentor’s voice startled Harry out of his thinking for the second time._

_“Yes, yes, sorry David, how are you?” Harry scratched the side of his head while straightening the jostled laptop that had slipped down his thighs towards his knees at David’s bark. The phone luckily remained cradled between his ear and shoulder during his movements._

_“Not well, I’m afraid.”_

_Harry sat up straighter from his slouched position on the couch and closed the lid of his computer, shoving it off to the side. “What is it? What’s happened?”_

_“My mother’s sister passed away this morning, and my mother is beside herself. She called me this morning hysterical, she needs someone to help with all of the funeral planning, you know of her poor nerves, she won’t be able to handle it all by herself.”_

_Harry did indeed understand the fragility of her poor nerves. He could remember the number of phone calls Jeanette O’Grady made to her only son David whilst they were out trooping through the wild. Her worried phone calls always somehow managed to come through on the crackling speakers, as if she herself had willed telecommunications through long distances to never fail. While Harry’s mother Anne on the other hand, was content to receive weekly emails from Harry stating his whereabouts and wellness._

_Harry gave a noise of assent, and David continued, “Gonna be driving down soon, hopefully get her calmed down while I deal with all of the legal stuff.”_

_“Are Claire and the little one going with?”_

_Harry actually hadn’t seen Claire in a few months now, not since their last job as the three amigos in Canada, before she had the baby. The three of them had been working on the piece about Franklin’s Lost Expedition of 1845. One of the missing ships had been found in the Canadian Arctic._

_Franklin’s Lost Expedition was the last trip that David, Claire, and Harry would take together as a threesome._

_Harry zoned back into the conversation, realizing David had carried on talking and he’d missed some of it again, dammit. “—Claire just left with Bryden while I called the director to get a replacement for me to go see the chimps.”_

_“What…what, chimps?”_

_“Harry, focus, the Jane Goodall Institute, they’ve got a new place, I was supposed to be leaving tonight to go do a piece—”_

_“What why? I thought you and Claire had decided to call it quits for now until Bryden was older?”_

_“I know, I was just going to go for the week. The director begged me to go down and do it as he couldn’t find any other available photojournalist. But now that I can’t go, I told him to send you in my place.”_

_“But David, you know I’m more of the_ photo _-part than the_ journalist _-part_. _The director knows this too, why do you think I haven’t been assigned to a solo project yet?” Harry rose from the couch to make his way into the kitchen._

_“Harry, you know you’re more than capable of the writing portion as well and that you’re just avoiding doing the solo projects that the director wants you to do,” David reproached._

_Harry winced, thankful that David wasn’t in the room with him. He puttered around the kitchen and fiddled with the random items that were scattered on the counter: an empty box of coffee, a pair of sunglasses, old mail…_

_“But,” David’s voice carried on knowingly, “the director’s done with you putting it off, so he’s making you go in my place. So I need you to pack, the flight’s tomorrow evening at 4:00 pm…”_

Which was basically how Harry reluctantly wound up in Central West Africa.

Upon stepping off of the plane’s external stairs, Harry followed the flight attendant who was waiting at the bottom to lead the plane’s passengers to the airport’s terminal, where a cool blast from the building’s air conditioning pleasantly greeted them.

He stopped at the customs booth where luckily all that was required of him was to present his passport to the awaiting hand. The customs officer verified Harry’s identity and then began flipping through the pages, raising his eyebrows at the number of country stamps Harry already had in his collection. Harry smiled tentatively, ready to talk about the numerous places he’d visited, but the officer finally found a free page, inked up a rubber stamp, and loudly slammed a stamp down, glaring at Harry through the glass divider.

Harry jolted at the action and upon accepting his passport back mumbled, “Have a good day too.” The officer shouted out for the next person to come forward which startled Harry, so he quickly shuffled away through the gate.

There were signs written in multiple languages and Harry stopped to try and understand them. Recognizing the French, he struggled to remember the language from his school days.

“Des bagages…” he muttered to himself, scratching a phantom itch on his tummy.

Luckily, images accompanied the words to depict what they meant, so he followed the signs leading towards the baggage claim. He wasn’t worried, he’d been in enough airports, large and small, to see they had a pattern of how they were organized inside. He ended up following the majority of crowd anyways to the circling conveyor belt.

Harry stood at the back of the waiting crowd, his height providing a vantage point to easily spot his bag. He drew his gaze to the people surrounding him. There seemed to be a lot of individual people like himself, as well as a few couples who were entwined with one another, wrapped up in their own world. Some parents tried to contain their children’s exuberance of being off the plane, as they were flitting in between others waiting for their luggage.

He stood for what seemed to be a long time, his hand beginning to cramp from holding onto his camera and equipment bag tightly. The usual paranoia over traveling to an unknown place stilled ingrained into his mind.

He watched as the crowd dwindled in numbers, then _finally_ , he spotted the well worn, only slightly fading in colour, rainbow tag attached to the handle of his suitcase. Of course it was in the trail end of remaining bags to come out through the flap. _Figures._

Harry stepped up to the conveyor and pulled his suitcase up and over the edge a little too quickly, for it suddenly landed on his foot with a thud. He yelped before yanking his foot out from underneath and shrugging his shoulder upwards to jostle back up the fallen strap of the camera bag. He could feel his forehead tightening as he frowned. This didn’t seem to be a good start.

He grabbed the handle and began walking away from the conveyor belt through to the main section of the terminal where parties awaiting their respective arriving passengers were located. David had mentioned yesterday that someone would arrive at the airport to pick him up and would be waiting in the terminal with David’s name on a sign.

Harry scanned the area, noticing that most of the single people he watched earlier were now being reunited with someone, or were meeting someone for business. A number of people held up signs with all kinds of business and people names on them. Harry finally saw a white poster with DAVID O’GRADY written in a dark, blocky font.

Harry walked towards to the man holding the sign. He was taller than Harry, with dark skin, and his head was shaved down smooth in contrast to Harry’s long curls. His lips turned upwards to reveal a large, pearly white grin when he saw Harry point at him to indicate he was his charge.

The man was wearing a forest green polo t-shirt with a golden-yellow logo on the upper left hand side of his chest. It was a series of four silhouettes: a woman with a ponytail, a chimp walking on its knuckles, a leaf, and finally a hand imprint. Underneath was a stitched acronym ‘JGI.’

“Bonjour Monsieur!” The man emphatically waved the sign in Harry’s face before swinging it down and taking a hold of the suitcase from Harry’s hand. Harry subtly swung his camera bag tighter on his shoulder when he had reached to take a hold of that as well. Luckily, he didn’t seem offended at Harry’s movement.

“Ehm…bonjour.” Harry winced at his poor attempt of an accent.

The man laughed before transitioning to English with a thick accent, “You don’t speak any French then?”

“Not well,” Harry admitted before smiling ruefully.

The man let out a booming laugh. “Well that’s quite alright. You’ll probably pick up some French and maybe even a bit of the two dialects here, Lingala or Kituba, during your stay. Most people here know English anyways, and everyone on the islands speaks most of all four languages. I’m Patrick by the way.”

“I’m Harry.”

“Oh?” Patrick glanced down at the sign, then asked, “Not David O’Grady then? What happened to him?”

“Family emergency,” Harry supplied. “I just got the call last night that I was coming in his place, so I’m afraid I don’t know a whole lot about where we are, or where we’re going.”

“Ahh, not to worry, I will fill you in!” Patrick lead them away from the hustle and bustle of the waiting area and outside towards the parking lot.

The heat hit Harry once again as they walked through the doors and a taxi beeped indignantly at him as he stumbled off the curb in his haste to follow Patrick’s quick steps. His luggage was jostled by Patrick’s large strides and the uneven pavement. Harry silently thanked himself for being particular about who was allowed to carry his camera and subsequent equipment.

The sun shone down on the pavement, reflecting back up off the black surface hotter than it seemed to be. Harry felt the cooled down sweat on the back of his neck beginning to trickle down again.

Patrick finally drew to a stop at a beige jeep, the same logo etched onto his shirt was painted onto the door. Patrick opened the passenger side, lifted Harry’s suitcase, and somewhat carelessly tossed it into the back seat, all in one motion.

Harry stepped up into the seat when Patrick turned around and walked to the driver’s side. The jeep started up with a loud rumble, its age noticeable in the sputtering and coughing sounds emanating from the engine.

Harry cocked an eyebrow, looking at Patrick and asking, “Will it make it?”

“Ahh,” he petted the dashboard, “ten years old, acquired from a dealer in town, been off roading a few times since I got it, and let me tell you, those paths in the rainforest aren’t for the lighthearted, but it hasn’t failed me yet!”

Harry remained skeptical as Patrick put the car in motion and began navigating through the airport’s parking lot to the main road. He noticed something hanging from the rearview mirror swinging back and forth to accompany Patrick’s haphazard driving. Harry reached up to still the object, fingering the beads that looped around the mirror which connected to a two-dimensional, carved, wooden figurine. It was a woman. Long, dark wavy hair was painted onto the wood and her upper body was nude. Her lower body resembled that of a mermaid’s tail.

“Mami Wata.”

“Pardon me?” Harry let go of the talisman and it resumed swinging in time to Patrick’s chaotic driving.

“There are those who believe that Mami Water is a water spirit who may bring wealth or death. The images of her are kept as a good luck charm.”

“And what do you believe?”

“I believe,” Patrick held up his index finger as he paused, “that we make our _own_ luck.” Each word was accompanied with an accentuated shake of his finger.

Harry pursed his lips in thought. He wasn’t entirely sure that he agreed, but he nonetheless nodded. He tried to settle back into his seat, his body disagreeing with sitting down again so soon after the long flight. There unfortunately wasn’t much room to stretch out his long legs either. He raised a hand up to grip the handle that was attached to the top of the door near his head to help steady his body against the inertia of the movements of the car.

Patrick must have seen his actions because he turned his head to grin at Harry, teasing, “You are too posh, with the hat, and the—the fancy glasses.” He gestured towards Harry’s head.

Harry frowned, staring back at Patrick. “‘M not,” he insisted, drawing his other hand down the front of his blouse in an attempt to smooth out the wrinkles. Realizing the contradiction, he pulled his hand back, slightly unsure of himself. “I can rough it if we need to.”

Patrick laughed, “Don’t worry Posh, the facility is brand new with modern technology. And Pointe-Noire is a safe, ehh safe-ish”—he wobbled a hand—“enough city to walk in at nighttime. The only time you’ll have to rough it is if you go out into the rainforest, but I don’t think you’ll have a need to.”

“Now, time for your lesson.” And so Patrick described the city by pointing out various buildings as they drove past them. The city was alive with activity, with merchants wandering down the street and stopping at various vendors to haggle prices, while vehicles honked their horns in irritation at other drivers and pedestrians.

Harry learned that Pointe-Noire was the second largest city in the Republic of the Congo, it was apparently a theme, for their intended destination was known to be in the second largest rainforest in the world.

The scenery gradually changed from the cityscape to a single road, lined by trees with wide open fields peeking through the branches. As they drove further north, the number of trees began to increase as the landscape became denser. Signs of human life diminished along their journey as the amount of visible people slimmed down to a few, and then none.

Harry noticed that the further they drove, the more the road narrowed, as flora steadily took over the sides. Patrick hadn’t bothered slowing down to accommodate this, so Harry’s hand squeezed tighter on the handle.

His attention was divided between listening to Patrick ramble on about the city and watching the world outside the windows. He had been to numerous places around the world with David and Claire, but this was his first foray into Africa.

Harry’s focus was forced forwards suddenly as Patrick slammed on the brakes and honked the horn. In front of them was another jeep, with the same logo as theirs. The two vehicles slowly drove up and past one another, Harry’s side of their jeep veering slightly off the road and angling down as the wheels bumped over the edge. Patrick yelled something out of his window to the other driver, laughter in his voice. It didn’t sound like French this time, Harry guessed it was one of the other two languages Patrick had mentioned. He sped up the vehicle again, barrelling around the corner and leaving a wake of dirt in the air.

“We are almost there.” Patrick glanced at Harry out of the corner of his eyes as finally slowed down the jeep to a crawl. Harry was grateful for the reprieve, and let his tense body relax for a moment. He peered to the dashboard, noticing that it had taken them almost an hour to get to the Kouilou-Niari River.

The river, as Patrick had described, was the end point of the road, and ultimately their destination. Patrick had told Harry that the main building of the entire facility was located on the bank of the river, with an island directly in front of the building in the middle of the river. The remaining two islands were on either side of the main one, upstream and downstream. Harry had learned that the islands were indeed also part of the facility, and required taking a boat across the river to reach each one.

Patrick turned around the corner to reveal a wide expanse of land with a white, modern looking building standing proudly in the midst of all the trees. The murky blue and green of the river was only just visible to the right hand side of the building, where a small speed boat was tied up to the dock. A flash of something bright reflecting from the top of the building drew Harry’s gaze upwards. He saw that the entire rooftop space was covered with angled, black solar panels.

Patrick drew the jeep to a stop in front of the building and said, “Welcome to the expansion project, all of the construction is fine, so you don’t have to worry about any falling beams, or loose wires.” Patrick grinned at Harry before jumping out of the vehicle, turning to pull Harry’s suitcase along with him. Harry opened the door and was hit with the sounds of their surroundings. He could hear chimpanzees hooting somewhere off in the distance. He cocked his head, listening to the repetitive _hoo hoo_ , and the answering _screech_ in return from somewhere else. His lips turned upwards at the end of the call. It sounded almost indignant, ‘no _you,_ come over to where I am!’

Harry followed Patrick up to the front of the building, trailing behind him through the open door. The foyer of the building was open and spacious, most of the back wall made entirely out of glass windows, giving a view of the island behind the building. There was a single wall directly in the centre, a desk with a rounded counter stationed in front of it.

On the wall behind the desk was a stunning photograph of a chimpanzee seemingly gazing directly into the viewer’s eyes with the initials JGI inked beside the chimp’s head. The photograph took up the entire expanse of the wall, and was the only decoration in the entire foyer save for some black lounge chairs off to the side of the front entrance.

Harry finally noticed a man and woman behind the desk. The woman was sitting down and the man was leaning over her shoulder, a hand steadying himself on the back of her chair as he pointed down at something on the desk.

Patrick lead Harry up to the desk where he could better make out the duo’s features. The man was wearing a pair of blue jeans and the same T-shirt as Patrick. His hair was dyed blonde, darker roots visible as it had been gelled upwards. He had piercing blue eyes that lit up upon seeing the two men stop at the desk. The woman was dressed a little more formally than the man, wearing a plum coloured dress matched with a cream blazer. Hazel eyes glanced up behind thick framed glasses perched upon a pert nose. She shifted her gaze to Patrick and smiled warmly up at him in a greeting.

The man abruptly left her side, his hand pushing the chair slightly in his eagerness to walk around the counter. She glared at his back and Harry’s lips quirked upwards. The contrast between the two individuals was stark.

“Patrick! Welcome back, I trust the drive went well? No sudden animals darting out in front of your jeep?” Niall’s lips twitched in amusement in what Harry guessed was a past memory. Harry didn't expect the Irish accent to lilt out of the man's mouth and he blinked in surprise.

Patrick coughed lightly, “No Sir, I drove cautiously this time.”

Niall’s eyebrows raised as he looked to Harry for confirmation. “Why do I somehow doubt that?”

Harry shook his head in response, widening his eyes dramatically. Cautious was not exactly the word he would have used. The man laughed and walked forwards, raising a hand up to shake.

“You must be Harry. David sent me an email explaining his situation and that you were his replacement.” Niall shook his hand enthusiastically, clapping his other hand on Harry’s shoulder in a friendly greeting.

“Yes, I’m Harry Styles, I’ve been summoned last minute to do the piece about the facility.”

“And I’m Niall Horan, I guess you can call me the director. It seems like such a formal title though, I’m really more relaxed than that. I like to call myself the captain.” Niall dropped his hand from Harry’s shoulder, clapping it against his other palm and grinning widely as the lady behind the desk rolled her eyes behind Niall’s back.

“I have to admit, I don’t exactly know all the details about the facility.” Harry frowned, pushing back the curls that had fallen in front of his face. “I hate to be unprofessional that way. I’m waiting for David to email me his notes, which he might’ve already done, I haven’t checked yet.”

“Don’t worry about it lad, we're pretty laid back here. Well. Except for Lynn here, she'll keep you on your toes with a tight schedule," Niall whispered conspiratorially, gesturing a thumb over his shoulder towards the desk. Harry peeked over his shoulder to see that she now had her arms crossed, lips pursed, and narrowed eyes directed at the back of Niall's head.

Lynn cleared her throat noisily, standing up to place some paper on top of the counter. “Mr. Styles, I'll need you to fill out some paperwork for your stay. I’ll also give you a pass to come and go through the buildings. Some areas will be off limits to you, you'll learn which ones as you go.”

Harry stepped up to the counter, widening his eyes dramatically to Niall about her punctuality and sternness. Niall just laughed in response, offering him no help whatsoever.

Harry dutifully dotted every I and crossed each T at the areas Lynn pointed to with a perfectly manicured finger. _JGI wasn’t liable for any injuries caused by provoking any of the primates, curfew was mandatory, signing in and out of each building was required..._

"This is quite the operation you run here," he murmured upon signing his name at the bottom of the last document.

"Yes, well. We can never be too careful. You never know who's going to walk through these doors," Lynn answered, her hands were clasped together in a tight grip resting on top of the counter, her gaze flickering towards Niall's briefly.

Niall let out what seemed to be an uneasy chuckle. Harry avoided the seemingly awkward moment by taking the time to clip the pass halfway down his shirt, next to the first button he’d done up, and leaving most of his chest exposed. He let it hang down on an angle before nodding sagely at it and looking up at Niall.

“What now?” he inquired.

Niall clapped his hands and said, “So you basically have free reign during your stay here except for some of the areas like Lynn mentioned. Straight upstairs are the main sleeping quarters.” Niall pointed an index finger upwards to accommodate his words. “I’ll get Patrick to drop your bag off there and you can see it later.” He waved his hand at Harry’s suitcase, and Harry finally reluctantly handed over his camera bag to Patrick as Niall continued, “The cafeteria is down the hall here to the left, breakfast is from 6:30am-8:30am, lunch is kind of wishy-washy”—Niall wobbled his hand—“they have some snack stuff to grab basically from 11:30am-3:30pm, and dinner is from 6:30pm-8:30pm.

“Most of the employees stay here in the main building, but each island has its own building as well, so some of the researchers who spend all their time on the island have basically migrated there instead. Some like Patrick live in Pointe-Noire and travel back and forth every day. So you might end up seeing different faces each day.”

Niall started walking backwards down the hallway with a wave of his hand for Harry to follow. “When you want to go over to one of the other islands, just go see Lynn and she’ll call for someone to take you. Most likely it’ll be Patrick, but the absolute last time for a ride over is just before it gets dark, so 7:00pm. And vice versa, they’ll do a PA call in each building for last call for a ride over.” He shrugged his shoulders. “If you miss it, it’s not a big deal. Like I said, there’s accommodations on each island now.”

Harry nodded his head in affirmation as he caught up to Niall and began walking beside him towards an elevator. A door opened at the end of the corridor to reveal a man entering the building. Niall continued the conversation, not yet noticing that Harry’s attention was diverted.

The man was wearing a white, unbuttoned lab coat that seemed a little too large for his smaller frame. He was wearing a simple black T-shirt with slacks and a pair of converse. Harry quirked an eyebrow upwards, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth at the contrasting outfit. His gaze continued to rake over the man’s form up to his tanned face, and Harry glimpsed taunt muscles in his neck when the man suddenly shook his head to tousle his hair out of his eyes. Dainty, long fingers swept aside the fringe that wasn’t cooperating. Harry glimpsed a black digital watch and an olive coloured, corded bracelet wrapped around his delicate wrist, before it was hidden from his view by the pocket of the lab coat.

“Mr. Tomlinson!” Niall’s voice drew Harry back to reality, and he watched as the man approached them.

“How many times have I told ye not to call me that?” Mr. Tomlinson barked, his accent evidently prominent. His face pulled into a mock serious frown, but changed into a quizzical look when he glanced over to Harry, the newcomer. Harry shifted his feet as he watched Mr. Tomlinson take his turn giving Harry a quick once over.

“Sorry Mr. Tomlinson,” Niall said, grinning and not looking sorry at all. “I have to maintain my professionalism while we’re still in the presence of Lynn.”

Harry sneaked a peek backwards towards Lynn who was staring impassively at the men down the hall.

“So we can’t have all visitors know you and I are on friendly relations now can we?” Niall continued.

“I’ll show you friendly relations…” Mr. Tomlinson muttered before finally walking over to stand in front of Harry. “Hi.” He held up a hand to shake with Harry.

Harry gripped the warm hand firmly, trying not to stare as Mr. Tomlinson’s hand was almost completely engulfed by his.

“Hi, I’m Harry Styles from National Geographic.” He held his gaze with the blue ones peering inquisitively back at him. There was a guarded edge which kept the man’s facial features carefully composed despite the seemingly welcoming tone.

“I’m Louis Tomlinson but please, just call me Louis.” Louis side-eyed Niall in a reprimand. Niall held his hands up in surrender.

“To what do we owe the pleasure of another Englishman? Niall, you’re officially outnumbered.”

“Harry’s here to do the write up I was telling you about? Remember? And nah, I’m the unique one, you plus the other two are now just average.” Niall crossed his arms and adopted a haughty expression. His grin however took away from the overall intended effect.

“Did your mum tell you that you were special every night before bed?” Harry quipped.

“Cheeky! I like him, he can stay.” Louis gave Harry a smirk at Niall’s indignant ‘hey!’

Niall changed the subject by asking, “What are you doing out of your habitat?” He seemed chuffed with his word choice.

Louis glanced witheringly at Niall. “If you must know, Zayn kicked me out, he’s brooding again.”

“Over Liam?”

“What else?” Louis retorted, throwing his hands up.

“Well Louis, since I am an important person and have many things to do, I’m going to leave Mr.Styles in your care, make sure he gets dinner and show him the floors upstairs.” He gave Harry a last clap on the back before retreating back down the hall back to Lynn.

Louis opened his mouth, possibly to protest but then thought better of it. “Well alright, not like I had other important things to do,” he stated, seemingly affronted.

“Sorry, I can go…wander?” Harry gestured to nowhere in particular over his shoulder.

“Harry,” Louis laughed. “I’m just kidding, the most important thing I have left to do today is eat, and then take the boat back before curfew. I came to stock up on food for my kitchen.”

Louis began walking down the corridor, but suddenly stopped and spun around on his heel, nearly crashing into Harry.

“On second thought, let’s go upstairs first, then eat.”

Louis drew the pair to a stop at the elevator and pressed the button. Upon hearing the ding of the lift, the door opened to reveal a man with a stocky build wearing construction boots with blue jeans rolled up at the cuffs. Harry noticed his arms were rather defined, showcased via a white muscle T-shirt, with a flannel shirt tied around his waist. His entire demeanour was topped with a scowl that graced his otherwise handsome face. What was most startling however, was the rather large shotgun that was slung across his broad shoulders, the base sat behind his head and the tip of the gun peeked out from behind his thighs.

Harry tried his best not to startle but couldn’t stop his eyes from widening and his eyebrows shooting upwards.

“Tommo,” the man practically barked.

“Payno…” Louis trailed off uncertainly.

“Who’s this?” ‘Payno’ asked, uncrossing his arms and gesturing towards Harry. He stepped off the elevator and walked directly up to Harry. Determined not to be intimidated, Harry raised a hand to shake with him.

“I’m Harry Styles from _National Geographic_.”

Payno glanced down at Harry’s outstretched hand, seemingly indecisive on whether or not to shake his hand, but Louis’ slight cough startled him into a decision, and Payno reached up to firmly grasp Harry’s hand.

“Liam Payne. I’m the liaison who frequents between the African Wildlife Foundation and the Sanctuary Islands.”

Harry didn’t entirely understand what Liam’s position was, but he nonetheless nodded and shook Liam’s hand.

“Pleasure to meet you.” Once he released Liam’s hand he dropped his own behind his back and clasped them together, rocking forward on his feet, and looking towards Louis for some instruction.

Liam hadn’t moved, but twisted his body slightly to address Louis, “Where are you headed?”

“To the observation deck. I’ve been told to give Harry the basic lowdown of how we operate here. Why, what’s happened?”

“They’ve moved,” Liam answered simply.

Louis made a noise in the back of his throat before huffing out a breath. “Alright, I’ll come find you when I’m done with Mr.Styles here,” he said, gesturing with his thumb in Harry’s direction.

“I can wander around to my room and find you after to finish the rest of the tour if you would like?” Harry offered to the two men.

His offer must’ve registered something in Liam, as his harsh facial expression relaxed somewhat and he acquiesced, “No that’s alright, I’ll go wash up and find some food and Niall.” He waved a hand at the two of them before walking down the hallway.

Louis requested the elevator doors again and Harry followed him in, attempting to quell his curiosity by waiting for Louis to speak. Louis had a brooding look upon his face as he reached into the pocket of the lab coat to withdraw a ring full of keys. Once he located a specific key, he inserted it into the slot next to button at the top of the panel, twisting the key and pressing the button for the top floor. Harry noticed that it was the only level in the building that had this security feature.

The elevator began its ascent with pull and Louis withdrew the key and pocketed the ring before turning to address Harry, “So, I assume that you know who Jane Goodall is?” When Harry nodded his confirmation that he did indeed know who she was, Louis continued, “The Jane Goodall Institute, I’m just going to refer to it as the Institute from now on, was working for a long time to find a new location as a sanctuary for chimpanzees. Most of the chimps here are the ones that were transferred from the other sanctuary, you passed it on your drive in, it’s about twenty kilometers from here.”

Louis continued speaking as the doors opened and the two stepped directly into a wide room full of computers and monitors. One wall was an entire glass panel where all Harry could see from their vantage point was lush green and blue sky. He hadn’t been listening to Louis but was brought back into the conversation by hearing,

“—baby chimps that have been rescued from the hunters who kill their parents.”

“But why?” Harry blurted out before Louis could continue.

“Because humans are despicable,” Louis stated with a steely gaze directly at Harry. There was a look of determination beneath the blue eyes which bore into Harry’s own. He didn’t know exactly how to address the blunt honesty, but he figured a reply wasn’t exactly needed. Nonetheless he never let his gaze waver, but rather returned it with his own look of determination.

Louis was the one who broke the gaze eventually by walking towards a large monitor and sitting down at the desk. He pulled up a website’s homepage which had a green header with a chimpanzee staring off to the side and the word _Tchimpounga_ was outlined in yellow.

“What’s the-T-chimp-” Harry tried to ask, mumbling and mispronouncing the word by harshly enunciating the ’T’.

“ _Sh_ im-poun-ga,” Louis stressed. “The ‘T’ is silent,” he chuckled lightly.

Harry muttered, “Hey, don’t make fun of me.” He pouted and pulled his lower lip between his thumb and forefinger.

“I’m allowed to, you’re new, and you gotta learn all the lingo around here, otherwise you’re gonna fall flat, fast. _Anyways,_ Tchimpounga,” he stressed, staring at Harry obviously, “is the name of the other sanctuary I just mentioned. It’s essentially a rehabilitation centre that was established in 1992 by the Institute through a cooperative agreement with the government of Congo to care for orphaned chimpanzees. A number of them have just been transferred over to us because they were running out of space.

“Hunters kill thousands of chimpanzees for the illegal bushmeat trade. They target the adult chimps for their larger size to yield more meat. They tend to spare the lives of the babies and sell them as pets despite the laws forbidding them. The orphans that have been rescued by government officials from the black market are sent to the rehab centre where they can be raised in an non-violent environment and they can receive care and attention they need on free ranging sites.”

Louis rolled his chair away from the computer over to another one with a large map displayed on the monitor. Harry was able to recognize the labelled Kouilou-Niari River as Louis tapped the monitor, and the map suddenly zoomed in closer to three islands situated on the river.

“Liam’s taken to calling them _The Sanctuary Islands_ , Niall hasn’t confirmed if they’re going to be called that or not. But. The first is one hundred hectare Tchindzoulou; then there’s forty hectare Ngombe; and finally seventeen hectare Tchibebe. You may need to have a lesson on how to pronounce them.” Louis gave Harry a wry grin, to which Harry returned with a small harumph.

Louis pointed at the largest island. “We are currently located in front of this one, the largest of the three islands, Tchindzoulou, it’s where all the rehab chimps from Tchimpounga are. My usual island is the smallest of the three, the one to the right.” Louis dragged his finger across the map towards Tchibebe “‘Bebe’ as I like to call her.”

Harry opened his mouth to inquire what Louis did on his island, but Louis carried on talking, “The Institute works in order to eventually end the bushmeat treachery through a number of initiatives. One is through what Liam does, he is our…‘liaison’ as he’s dubbed himself.” Louis drew finger quotes in the air as he stated the title.

“He works with the African Wildlife Foundation to try and prevent the other chimps from being targeted in the wild. He’s in charge of the safety and protection of some of the local groups that are on the mainland. We try our best to track the groups, as well as any hunters that may be following them. And before you ask, no Liam does not kill the hunters, the gun is for his own protection. The hunters are ruthless, and will do anything to get what they want,” he bit out, shaking his head reproachfully.

“The second initiative is to try and create community centred conservation activities. This is where we try to develop alternative sources of protein, as well as policy efforts. This of course can be problematic, how do you tell someone who eats cow to stop eating cow? It’s one of those tricky, political discussions. Who says that your way of doing things is better than someone else’s? The problem is that the chimpanzees are becoming endangered. Being our closest relative, there’s still so much that can be discovered by examining them. Obviously, this can’t be done if there are none left to study.”

Louis waved a flippant hand as he said, “I mean, most of the focus has shifted anyways to creating free-range spaces for primates and lessening the amount of research being done. The research environments of the past left a mindset of horribly small cages and treatments that range from all kinds of terrible ideas. Mind you, not everyone is like that, but it’s difficult to shake the stigma. The Sanctuary Islands are meant to offer the chimps a much larger, more natural setting where they can be in a secure environment to learn, and of course build their relationships. Chimps are naturally social primates and develop bonds with one another within their communities.

“The third initiative is to try and provide education and awareness programs to individuals around the world about the bushmeat trade with the hopes of ending it. And this is mainly why you are here I’m guessing, to write an article about the Institute and all the work we do here and to teach others that getting involved is the best way to help end the trade once and for all.”

Louis paused his monologue as he walked towards the glass wall where he folded his arms and glanced down at the river below. Harry followed him and gazed out the window to see Tchindzoulou covered with trees, the lush green hiding any evidence of life existing on the island. He couldn’t even see the Island’s building, so he asked Louis about it.

“The building’s in the centre of the island and it’s really inconspicuous,” Louis explained. “We try to keep human interference to a minimum, there are fences around the island for protection, but then that’s about it.”

He pointed and Harry followed his gaze to the lonely dock at the bank.

“The boat drops you off and then it’s a short walk down the dirt road, or you can do go to the shed and take one of the golf carts and ride down.”

“Is each island structured the same way?” Harry inquired.

“More or less. Since my island is smaller, the building is about half the size.”

“What goes on, on your island?”

“I also have rescue chimps, but they come from all around the world. Some were rescued from trainers who misused them in circuses, others from cosmetic testing laboratories. It takes a lot longer to rehabilitate these primates because most of them don’t know anything else. They were raised in captivity and need close attention to reintroduce them into a natural habitat. I’m the leader of the team on Bebe Island that works to accomplish this.”

“And the third island?” Harry asked.

“It isn’t operational yet, and from what I hear, it may end up housing some other primates instead of chimpanzees. Too many other subfamilies of primates are going extinct,” Louis tsked, turning away from the window.

“Come on, I’ll show you the rest of the building.”

The rest of the building consisted of four other levels, including a basement for food storage. Louis walked Harry through each level, describing the functions of the various rooms. The only inaccessible areas of the building seemed to be the control room on the top floor and the basement. The third and second floor consisted of office space for the staff, some research laboratories, and finally researcher and visitor housing, where each room was equipped with their own bathroom. Louis found Harry’s room for him, as he was apparently the only visitor staying in the building right now. Louis let Harry quickly splash some water on his face and drop off this hat and sunglasses before continuing with the tour.

“So how did you get stuck here?” The two men were slowly making their way down a flight of stairs back to the main level when Louis took advantage of their silence to question Harry.

“David, the initial correspondent had a death in the family and sent little unsuspecting me down in his place,” He answered, rolling his eyes.

“You don’t want to be here?”

Harry scrambled to reply, “It’s not that, it’s just that I uh, I don’t normally write the articles. That was always David’s job. He’s always been the best writer out of the three of us. His wife, Claire and I, were the photographers in our little trio. The three of us worked together for five years, I’ve known them even longer, as we went to school together”—he flipped a hand—“well, they were my TAs in my undergrad, then I did a master’s in photojournalism. David and Claire were employed at _National Geographic_ during this time and since I had just sort of kept following them around, they got me a job.” Harry fiddled with the elastic tied around his wrist, snapping it lightly against his skin.

“You said ‘worked’ together? You don’t anymore?” Louis stuffed his hands in the lab coat’s pockets, billowing the fabric out with splayed hands, his nose wrinkling in a phantom itch. Harry tore his gaze from the sight.

“Well, after they got married a couple of years ago, it was only a matter of time before they wanted a kid right?” He shrugged his shoulders. “Claire just had baby Bryden a few months ago, and they both decided to take some time off from working and travelling around, of course. Our director was apparently trying to find someone to come here because most of everyone else is away on assignments, so David initially agreed under the pressure.”

Louis tilted his head and asked, “Why didn’t the director just ask you in the first place?”

“I’ve never done a solo trip by myself,” he mumbled, shifting his gaze away from Louis. “I’d gotten used to working with other people, so when David and Claire left, I just tagged along with other groups.”

“Ahh.” Louis nodded. “So you found a new crew then?”

Harry thought carefully. “Well, every trip since then, I’ve worked with a different group of people. It’s fine, I mean, David and Claire aren’t easily replaceable ya know?” Harry tried to grin, but it felt more like a grimace.

Louis didn’t say anything further. He looked up at Harry, something akin to pity lurking in his eyes. Harry felt a knot tighten in his chest. He cleared his throat.

“So, where to now?”

Louis’ eyes flickered as he answered, “Cafeteria, I called Renee, our head cook, earlier to let her know I was coming by to pick up food for my kitchen on Bebe. Plus, I reckon it’s close dinner time.” He tapped the face of his watch.

The cafeteria was a wide room, with long tables taking up the majority of the space in the centre of the room with fold up benches attached to them instead of chairs. There were a few people eating dinner already, and a short, middle aged woman was standing behind a steam table at the far end of the room.

“Louis!” She waved a hand, the white apron tied around her waist that was covered in a variety of food stains jostled in her erratic movements.

“Renee!” Louis’ shout echoed across the room, causing a few heads to turn questioningly in their direction.

Louis walked around the steam table to hug the woman, squishing her face into his chest, as the top of her head didn’t quite reach Louis’ shoulders. He rubbed his hands up and down her shoulders soothingly. “This is Renee, the love of my life, apple of my eye—”

She elbowed Louis in the ribs. “You charmer.”

“Only for you!” he said, smacking a kiss to her cheek. “Do you have the food I ordered?”

“Ohhhh…”

“You forgot.” Louis’ pursed lips were threatened by the grin breaking through and the sudden small slits of his eyes as he finally let out a laugh.

She placed her hands on her hips. “Do you know how hard it is to keep track of all you?”

“There’s not many of us ‘ere!” Louis jumped out of the way of her sudden swat to his arm.

“Oosh, I’ll have none of your sass Tomlinson, now who’s your friend luv?”

“Oh, this here is Mr. Harry Styles from _National Geographic_.”

“Ohh! I love those magazines, especially the beautiful photographs in them, and the little pull out maps inside of them.” She imitated the actions of flipping through pages as she rambled on, “What do you do there?”

“I’m a photographer.” Harry smiled softly at the compliment given to him before her realization, puffing up slightly in pride.

“Oh how wonderful! You are going to take some pictures of the islands then, yes?” She adjusted the hair net wrapped around thick black hair tied up in a bun before crossing her arms and resting them down on the counter in front of her.

“Yes that’s the plan.” He imitated a gun and pointed his finger at her, clicking his tongue. “I’ll be doing a write up about the facility as well.” He continued, nodding his head and scrunching up his lips at the thought of the task ahead of him.

Louis rocked forward on his toes, tilting his head towards Harry. “It’ll be Harry’s first article written by himself actually.”

Her eyebrows raised up. “Will it now? Well that’s just darn exciting. If you need any help, I’ve read tons of articles in the magazines over the years, I can help you from a reader’s perspective.” Her golden hoops bounced excitedly with her enthusiastic head nod.

Harry let out a laugh, before schooling his features and stating seriously, “Well then you’re the perfect person for the job.”

She beamed pearly white teeth at him. “I like you, Harry, you got a good head underneath all those curls. Now, I’ve got some smoked fish, yam, rice, kwanga, and cassava cake, what do you want on your plate?”

“Kwanga? What’s that.” Harry stepped forward, saying eagerly, “I love trying new foods.”

Louis’ mouth opened with a little indignant, “Hey!” followed by, “what about my order?”

“Shhhh.” She swatted a hand at Louis, looking up at Harry with a wink. “I’ll make it up for you after. Kwanga is just a bread. Cassava is a root, that can be made into a flour, and then you use that to make the cake. Here, I’ll put a little bit of everything on a plate for you, how’s that?”

“Yes please.” Harry eagerly rubbed a hand over his belly. “I‘m actually starving, this looks amazing.”

Harry shifted his gaze to Louis to see him narrow his eyes at him, to which Harry just grinned and crossed his hands behind his lower back, swaying his torso in innocence.

Louis mouthed, _suck up_ to him, and Harry raised an eyebrow and shrugged his shoulder as if to say, _well it can’t hurt right?_ The two men quickly looked back to Renee at the clearing of her throat and the presentation of a steaming plate of food with a raised eyebrow.

Harry accepted the plate, murmuring his thanks before grabbing utensils to settle down onto one of the benches. Louis joined him shortly after with his own plate of food.

Harry let them eat in silence for a couple of minutes before asking, “So, the African Wildlife Foundation that you mentioned earlier, with Liam? What’s that all about exactly.” He opened his mouth to catch the piece of fish dropping off his fork with his tongue, bringing the rest up into his mouth and humming in pleasure while he chewed and nodded his head. He looked back up to Louis when his question went unanswered for more than a few seconds.

Louis was staring intently at Harry’s mouth, “Uhh…wildlife…” He cleared his throat and blinked, his attention down towards his plate. “Liam works with the foundation to protect the chimps out in the wild,” he answered.

“Yes you mentioned that earlier, I guess what I’m wondering is how exactly can the chimps be helped?”

Louis rested his elbow on the table, twirling his fork in his other hand, spearing a piece of fish on the end of it. “Well, the species itself is endangered, and not just from the bushmeat trade. Obviously that isn’t doing the species any favours by killing off the mothers, leaving it to be a male based population with less opportunities for repopulation,” he rambled. “ _But_ there’s also the increasing amount of land becoming ravaged by deforestation. Chimpanzees are losing their habitats rapidly.”

Louis set down his fork and interlocked his fingers together. “So the combination of the two devastations are dwindling down the population. The African Wildlife Foundation has their own initiatives to try and provide communities with agricultural training and teach them that instead of just clear cutting”—he made the motions of a saw with his hand—“which is cutting down everything in their path, that there’s better alternatives.” He picked his fork back up, eating a piece of fish, and continuing to talk around it, “And then the Foundation has enlisted us to try and handle the bushmeat hunting end of the situation.”

“By having Liam track the wild chimps,” Harry interjected.

Louis nodded. “There’s one big social group of about fifty chimpanzees that we, sort of follow, or at least follow with our technology, GPS, trackers, aerial photography. Liam will also occasionally go out into the forest with a team for a few days, where he camps and tries to make sure there’s no hunter groups stalking the chimps. We’ve had issues of that in the past, it never used to be so pervasive, but there was an…incident.” Louis cocked his head, his lips thinning before he continued, “So Liam’s taken to upping our security, as well as searching for the hunter groups lingering near the chimpanzee’s group.”

Harry frowned, “What was the security brea—”

“Louis luv, here you go,” Renee interrupted Harry’s question by setting a bag down on the table beside Louis. She placed a hand upon his shoulder, looking towards Harry and asking, “How do you like it dear?” She gestured to the kwanga and the cassava.

“Ohh, it’s delicious,” Harry replied, holding up the ‘okay’ symbol with his index finger and thumb. “Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome dear.” She tapped Louis’ shoulder, “Louis, you best hurry along so you can catch a ride with Patrick over to Bebe.”

“Yes mum, I need to talk to Liam too anyways before I head back.” Louis rolled his eyes as he stood up. “Alright on your own then?” He gestured with his chin towards Harry.

“Yeah, thank you for the tour and all of the insider info.” Harry wiped his hands on his jeans, bringing one up in a fist to cough lightly into it.

“No worries. I’ll see you ‘round.” Louis nodded his head at him and took his tray over to the garbage station, along with his food parcel, leaving the room behind and taking with him most of the energy.

Harry remained at the table for a while longer, finishing his meal slowly while watching the others in the room eating in pairs or larger groups, as he sat alone in thought.

 

The hallways were littered with more people than he had seen all day, as researchers and security personnel began retiring to their rooms for the evening.

No one spoke to him as he wandered back up to the floor his room was on, walking past a window which reflected his image from the light in the ceiling. The blackness outside the window swallowed up any view of the first island, Tchindzoulou, or the river. Harry stepped up to it, pressing his face and hands against it to try and get a glimpse. His breath fogged up the glass, so he wiped it away and was able to make out a brief outline of the island because the moon was only a sliver in the night sky, providing a barely-there soft glow to reflect on the water. He drew his gaze upwards, the stars beginning to peek out as the night grew. The clarity of the stars was already more prominent than any night in London, but nothing beat the visibility of a nighttime sky in the Canadian Arctic.

_The three of them had been summoned to join an expedition in the Canadian Arctic, where a crew of archaeologists had been searching for the lost ships of an ill fated trip of Sir John Franklin back in 1845. Franklin’s third trip from England had been to find the Northwest Passage, but his ships had disappeared, leaving behind scattered clues all over the arctic of fragmented bones from the crew members, and various pieces of the ships. For over 170 years, searches for the lost ships from the expedition had all been in vain._

_The most recent crew to go out there now, were so convinced of their newfound evidence, a metal stamp from one of the ships that was found on an island, which could indicate that a ship was possibly nearby, sunken underneath the ice. They had called_ National Geographic _, claiming that this was going to be the year where the found something. That this time they had better technology, better exploration techniques, a better crew, and a new location, all to try and track down one of two ships described in Sir John Franklin’s last letters, the HMS_ Erebus _, or HMS_ Terror.

 _David, Claire, and Harry had been sent from_ National Geographic _to follow the story of the hopeful crew, with the potential uncovering of the next big archaeological find._

 _The three of them had only been home from their last trip for a few days when they were sent out again, finishing up the final touches of their article, a ten page spread in the latest issue of_ National Geographic.

_Harry hadn’t even bothered unpacking, instead swapping out some clothes for warmer ones and investing in a parka, a pair of thermal boots, and gloves before the three were off to the Canadian Arctic._

_He’d never been anywhere northern before and being on the boat for days on end had etched a permanent chill deep within his bones that couldn’t be rectified. He stole his way into Claire and David’s room, looking to leech warmth by cuddling with them._

_He stood in the doorway to the small room, a bunk bed built up in the corner, and a small dresser in the other. His teeth chattered uncontrollably, his hands were stuffed deep into his pockets, and his was hood drawn up, the faux fur tickling his cheeks._

_Claire took one look at him from her position lying on the bed in David’s embrace, and opened her arms wide. “C’mere Haz.”_

_“Why are we on this god forsaken, frozen boat, in the middle of nowhere?” he mumbled grumpily into Claire’s stomach. She pushed down his hood to run her fingers soothingly through his curls. Her fingers were warm against his scalp as she scratched behind his ears, her ring occasionally catching a tendril of hair, which she gently pulled free._

_Something had felt off with the three of them since the beginning the trip. Ever since the initial phone call from David about the job, he and Claire just hadn’t seemed quite enthusiastic about it as they had for previous trips. Harry wasn’t sure what it was that kept Claire and David’s excitement to a minimum, but he was glad to see that whatever it was, it didn’t change the amount of affection he was able to receive from them. Harry was happy to be on the road again with the two of them, no matter how short of a break they had gotten. He had to admit, he could do with an increase in temperature though._

_The tremors in his body began to simmer down, the combination of Claire’s soft fingers and David’s soothing voice retelling the words written by Sir John Franklin in his last letters finally allowed Harry’s body to relax._

_Harry dozed in and out of a half conscious state, the past few nights had been a restless sleep for him he was unable to get used to the swell of the ship on the water, nor the cold._

_David’s voice ceased as he finished the last letter, and the sudden quiet was somehow too loud in the small room._

_Harry muttered dryly, “I don’t know that I can handle all the excitement happening on board right now. When do you think they’ll find something?”_

_“Alright, up you both get, c’mere. Let’s go up”. David’s movements broke the cocoon of warmth as he started getting up. Harry mumbled nonsensically in the disturbance before realizing what David meant._

_“Up on the deck? Now?” he sputtered as he rose to stand up, pulling Claire up with him._

_Upon arriving on board three days ago, Harry hadn’t bothered lingering above deck after the sun had set, as it took with it the little warmth it had. He had taken to retiring early for the night, playing cards with crew members underneath, as he was unwilling to stand outside on deck when the temperatures dropped even lower. Harry didn’t want to go up there right now._

_“Yes, yes,_ now _.” David left the room, leaving a confused Harry to follow, with Claire taking up the rear._

_They climbed the steep ladder and pushed open the wooden door entering the frigid air. Harry’s puffs of hot air were frosted upon each breath before being swallowed up by the night sky. He pulled the hood up over his head in the hopes of recapturing the heat trying to escape off the top of his head._

_David walked over to the railing, leaning his elbows over the edge._

_“What do you see?” he intoned, turning his head to look at Harry. Claire came up to the other side of David, linking her arm through his and resting her head against his shoulder, strands of her blonde hair falling out of her ponytail and dancing in the wind._

_“Is this another one of your lessons?” Harry scoffed. “No matter how many times I seem to tell you that I haven’t been a student of yours for a long time now, you always do this.”_

_“Harry.”_

_He made a noise in the back of his throat, blowing out a harsh puff of air which steamed up in his face. “Fine, fine, I’ll bite. I see nothing. The land is barren, filled with rocks, and there’s barely any snow cover. We haven’t even really seen any icebergs, nothing remotely big enough to make this trip interesting. We’re in the middle of nowhere.”_

_David grabbed Harry’s chin and tilted it upwards towards the night sky. “Look again Harry, there are_ stars _, you’ve probably never seen them like this before. A totally unaltered, clean, and clear atmosphere, with a view of millions upon millions of scattered stars. Bursts of energy with the promise of something else existing.”_

_Harry feasted his eyes upwards, he felt David’s hand drop away from his chin. Pebbles of silver sparkled at him in clusters all throughout the black canvas. There were no city lights obstructing the view, no light pollution to cover up the brilliance of the natural light. His breath hitched, and he suddenly felt dizzy at the enormity of the sky. Even in the countryside away from London, nothing had ever been quite like this. He had never known that the number of stars up there almost cancelled out the blackness. You could never see this much down in the city, you were perhaps lucky if you could spot a constellation or two. You almost didn’t need the moonlight, as the stars here were overpowering, with light radiating off of them onto the landscape below._

_Harry suddenly felt small, standing there on the dock of boat that was gliding its way through arctic waters to location rumoured to be a spot where a sunken ship could be hidden down below the ice._

_“And then. Not only can you get a glimpse of the black and silver sky, the Arctic has more to offer. A phenomenon unique to the North pole, the Aurora Borealis,” David whispered the name like an enchantment._

_“The Northern Lights,” Harry murmured, his gaze raking the sky for any signs of bright colour._

_“Also called ‘Dawn of the North.’ Where gas particles in the Earth’s atmosphere collide with charged particles from the sun’s atmosphere resulting in variations of different colours.” David mimicked the explosion by knocking his balled up fists together, his small ponytail shook at the vibration that ran through his upper body at the impact. “The result is something spectacular.”_

_The trio fell silent, watching the stars flicker, the sounds of the waves lapping against the bow of the boat was a steady whoosh, steam rising from their mouths as they each breathed heavily and gazed outwards._

_A sudden flicker of something out of the corner of Harry’s eye caught his attention. He looked upwards to see a flash of green hue. It’s eerie iridescent form created a wave in the night sky that materialized right before his eyes. A hue of blue accompanied it, weaving in and out of the green, and extending for quite some distance._

_His mouth dropped open. He whipped his head towards David, accusing, “How the hell did you know it was going to do that?”_

_David’s mouth was also dropped open, but it closed into a smirk. He leaned his torso forward into Harry’s space, his mouth opening wide into a grin. “I didn’t, I just really_ fucking _hoped it was going to!” He let out a booming laugh, opening his arms wide open and hooting into the sky, his cry echoing into the flickering colours._

_Claire smacked his arm and reprimanded, “David! Language!” Her scolding trailed off into a shriek when David suddenly lifted her up underneath his arms and swung her around in circles, eliciting giggles. He set her down gently afterwards and kissed her slowly, his hands cupping her rosy cheeks._

_Harry turned away from the moment, giving them their privacy, but he shook his head in amazement and looked up past the river of green and blue, and towards the hundreds of bundles of stars that shone brightly behind it._

He was brought of out the memory with a quick shake of his head, and he turned away from the window, no Aurora Borealis was present here, nor a David to give him a life lesson.

He wandered back to his room, swiping his pass to enter it and locking it behind him for the night. The room had a simple set up, the bathroom situated right beside the front door and a double bed with a navy coloured duvet stuck out from the middle of the wall, taking up most of the space in the room. A desk and a dresser were stationed in the far corner in front of the window which overlooked the parking area in front of the building. He walked up to the window, pulling the blinds closed and toeing off his shoes, kicking them underneath the chair at the desk. He began methodically unpacking his clothing, fluffing out the items to remove any lingering creases, and placing them gently inside the drawers.

He plucked his toiletry bag out of the suitcase and went to the bathroom, unpacking and organising its contents . Once that was finished, he switched on the faucet of the shower, letting the water warm up as he began removing his clothing, then pulling the shampoo and conditioner he had brought with him into the stall and closing the door behind him. He let the hot water erase the grime from travelling which lingered on his body. His teeth felt fuzzy, he ran his tongue over them, and grimaced. He then lathered the soap in his hands and scratched away at his hair, digging the soap deep into the roots. The familiar scent of the coconut body wash wafted over him when he flicked open the cap, pouring a generous amount on his palm, disbelieving that a small dollop would be enough to wash away the sweat from the day. He lathered the soap all over his body, reaching around to the tops of his shoulders, digging his thumb into the knots deep in the muscles, releasing a groan at the impact to the tense muscle. He dropped his hands, suddenly too tired to carry on holding them up. The hot water was making him sleepy and lethargic, so he quickly finished up, rinsing himself off and turning the water off.

He squeezed excess water from his curls, then pulled off a towel from the bar and unfolded it. The towels were soft he noticed, as he rubbed the material up and down his arms and over his pink torso. He gently glided it over his cock, which was nestled in curls, he ran the fingers of his other hand through the sparse hair and downwards, contemplating. A flash of tousled hair and blue eyes in his mind nearly tempted him, but he decided against it, too tired to want to put the effort into it. Instead he dragged the towel over his wiry legs and in between each toe. He tousled the towel over his head to wring out the water seeped into the curls, ending the routine by draping the towel around his hips and brushing his teeth.

He padded softly back into the room, pulling his laptop and charger from the suitcase and plopping himself down at the desk. He smacked his lips sleepily as he waited for the computer to boost up. He eyelids were dropping, the muscles in his body pliant from the warm water. He sat hunched over at the desk, waiting for the tell tale ping of the startup screen loading.

There was a sheet located on the corner of the desk with the wifi name and password, so he entered it perfunctory into the settings and opened the browser to his email. He had a few new messages, one from his mother, David, some coupons from his favourite camera store, and other spam messages from websites he had signed up to. He deleted some and replied to his mother with a simple, _I’ve arrived_ and _I’m tired so I’ll provide you with a more detailed message tomorrow, Love H._

David had attached a number of documents to his email which stated information Harry had already picked up today. He read over them lazily anyways, making a note on the desktop to re- read it in the morning.

He powered down the laptop and threw the towel over the back of the chair in a lump, falling face first and naked into the bed. He squirmed around to roll underneath the covers without lifting his body up off the bed, and finally huddled underneath, falling into a fitful sleep.

Harry rose the next morning with a crick in his back and heavy dark circles underneath his eyes. Lingering dreams of unidentified images drifted from his mind quickly. He remembered waking up each time he rolled over. The unfamiliarity of a new bed always gave him issues on the first night of sleep.

His shower from last night had left his hair in a state of dishevelled knots so he stuck his head under the tap quickly to wet it again. This time, he blowed it dry and left it down naturally.

He puttered around on the computer for a few minutes, re-reading the email from David. However, his growling stomach demanded his attention, so he ensured that he had all of his provisions for the day in a small knapsack (mainly his camera, a notebook and pencil to jot down notes, as well as an extra camera battery) and lumbered stiffly down to the cafeteria.

The buffet consisted of a wide arrange of fresh fruit, strong black coffee, and more kwanga with salty butter. Harry stopped to have a chat with Renee, and she gave him a couple bottles of water and an apple to take with him to the island.

“You make sure to stay hydrated okay? And don’t eat near the chimps, they’ll steal your food.” She gave him a pat on the bum and waved him off to the front desk.

Lynn was perched in her chair with her back ramrod straight. Her hair was down in a side swept braid this morning.

“Hi, good morning, how are you?” Harry drawled with a small wave of his hand.

Lynn peered up at him over her glasses. “Good morning Mr. Styles. Have you decided what you’re going to do today?”

“Yes, I think I’ll head over to Tchindzoulou Island.” After spending time this morning on a pronunciation website, he pronounced the name slowly and carefully.

Lynn was nonplussed at his efforts. “Very well Mr. Styles. Let me call for Patrick to take you over.”

“Please, just Harry.” He pulled the ring on his finger slightly loose and began twisting it around, the steely gaze of the woman bore into his.

She inclined her head in acquiesce and picked up a walkie talkie which sat resting on the desk, summoning Patrick.

Harry wandered over to the sleek chairs, sitting down for only a moment before Patrick appeared in the hall.

“Harry!” he greeted him jovially. “Where are we headed to today?”

He mentioned the island and Patrick clapped him on the back and lead the two out the side door towards the dock.

Harry was still shocked by the blast of heat that greeted him upon exiting the building. The hot sun was glaring down upon them, stuffy upon each intake of breath. Patrick had no qualms about it, rambling on about how they just got a new boat, only that it wasn’t entirely new, but he had gotten it for cheap down in Pointe-Noire. Harry realized what that meant, and he groaned softly to himself.

The dock bounced with their footsteps as they walked across, and Harry wobbled slightly in his quest to gain balance against the motion. It was a simple wooden dock, ten feet in length with two posts at the end where the boat was tied up. The water was relatively calm, a slight breeze wafted off and rumpled through Harry’s curls and his loose shirt. The boat swayed gently, the water trying to lap up onto the edge of the dock.

Patrick knelt down to untie an end of the rope, handing it off to Harry while he did the other one. The boat had paint chipping off the sides, as well as a few indents pushed into the metal. Harry stepped precariously into it, sitting down gently on the bench in the middle. There were a couple life jackets tucked in the front end to which he briefly considered strapping on, but Patrick started up the engine and Harry was left to just hold on to the bench as the boat rocked forwards in motion.

Tchindzoulou island was located almost directly in front of them on the river and was close enough that the lowest powered speed got them there in only a couple of minutes. There wasn’t much to gaze at on the river, save for the walls of green that hugged the bank in every direction.

The dock on Tchindzoulou loomed closer until the edge of the boat finally hit it with a thunk and jolted Harry sideways. Patrick didn’t bother turning the engine off. “Here you go my boy! Just have them inside call me again when you’re ready to come back, or if you end up staying there all day I’ll pick you up at curfew.”

“Okay, thanks Patrick.” Harry began to ungracefully crawl up onto the dock by placing a hand down to balance himself. Only his foot caught on the lip of the boat at the last second and nearly threatened to yank him backwards. Patrick let out a throaty chuckle to which Harry turned around and pointed an accusing finger at him and gave him a stern look.

“That’s not very nice.”

Patrick held his hands up in surrender, grinning and revving the engine, before he turned the boat away back to the mainland.

Harry followed the dock up to a dirt road with a wooden shed stationed off to the side. He opened the door to reveal a line of three golf carts parked in a row. He took one glance at them, wrinkling his nose in contemplation for only a split second before deciding against them and turning around to walk out of the shed. He didn't think he should be trusted to drive the cart by himself.

He set off down the dirt path, turning his camera on to capture shots of his surroundings. He could hear the various chatter of different animals all around him, it seemed to mostly be an assortment of different amphibians, insects, and birds. There was also the distant hoot of chimpanzees off somewhere to the north of the island.

He walked down the road, getting lost in viewing the brush. He stooped for a moment to stand in the middle of the path, taking artistic, angled snapshots of the landscape, the road veering off deeper into the island and narrowing in width. He thought it was a cool shot. He shifted his body ninety degrees to face a wall of green. The combination of the tree’s branches and the leaves of the shrubbery on the ground gave a look of ominous green claws leeching out onto the road and climbing further away from its home base, as if stretching out from its body. He took a step backwards to capture the entire wall in the frame of his camera, leaving a strip of brown from the road at the bottom of the frame.

 _Click click_. His camera whirred with noise, filling up the memory rapidly. Harry saw movement through the lens and pulled the camera down to gain a better look. There was a butterfly floating in the wind, heading for a brightly coloured flower nestled in the green. The black edges of the butterfly made a sharp contrast against the lavender colour of the flower. He stepped up slowly so not to disturb the scene, raised his camera up and clicked away. He smiled at the resulting picture shown on the panel, the simple beauty was a always a reminder to him to appreciate the smaller things in life. A sudden croak near his foot drew his attention down to a tiny frog sitting on a rock, motionless save for the billowing up of its throat to release sound.

This was good. Starting off with something familiar was always a sure way to gain confidence. He had his reservations about writing an article about a topic he felt he didn’t have an attachment to yet. Being hidden behind the lens of his camera eased up some of the nervousness ebbed in his chest.

He must have been sufficiently distracted by his thoughts for quite some time to miss the approaching sound of something crunching against the dirt. Harry had only a split second to hear a _‘Whoop! Watch it Styles!’_ Before a golf cart came careening down the path. Harry fell over from his crouched position onto his butt from the shock of it, the frog leaping away from all the commotion.

Harry heard Louis’ laughter before he even had a chance to look up to see him. Louis had a grin on his face, his eyes wide with mirth. He sped up right past Harry shouting out, “Come on! I’ll race ya!”

Harry sputtered out a laugh. “You’re in a motorized _vehicle!_ This is hardly _fair.”_ he shouted, scrambling to stand up amidst the cloud of dirt left behind from the wheels. He gripped his camera tightly and took after Louis, his heart thrumming in his chest in excitement. He however lost sight of the Louis and golf cart quickly.

He finally reached the end of the road, huffing and trying to catch his breath. Louis was a picture of innocence, leaning against the stopped golf cart and inspecting his nails. Harry blew out a harsh breath through his nostrils, leaning over to place his hands on his knees to calm his racing heart.

Louis raised an eyebrow at him and said, “I think you may need to get some more exercise mate.”

“ _Says_ —says the one—who rode the golf cart down here.” His words were broken up with heavy pants.

Harry stood up straight, arching his back with a satisfying crack. “I didn’t think this was your island?”

“I don’t need to have a reason to be here.” Louis sniffed.

Harry rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean.”

“I like to know what’s happening.” He grinned, turning away from Harry to walk inside the building.

The building on Tchindzoulou was smaller than the one on the mainland, only two stories high, but was constructed in the same layout with solar panels on the roof. Louis explained that the second floor was fit with rooms and a kitchen for the researchers, while the main level was comprised of storage areas with food for the chimpanzees and a smaller room for a veterinary clinic.

“How is it that I’m stuck giving you a tour once again?” Louis pulled up his pass to swipe at the lock, which was on a retractable wire attached to his belt. The lock beeped and flashed green so he pushed through the door with his back and walked backwards into the building while looking at Harry.

Harry held a hand up to catch the door and followed Louis into what he determined was the clinic. He shrugged sheepishly. “Because you’re a decent lad?”

“Lad? Oh we’re lads now?” Louis looked almost incredulous, a disbelieving frown forming at the corners of his mouth and his eyebrows raised. Louis had stopped walking to address Harry.

“Sure,” Harry quipped. “Also, this is your best way to ensure that I stay out of trouble.”

“Why? Are you a trouble maker Mr. Styles?”

Harry crossed his arms but brought one hand up to his chin as if to ponder the question carefully. “Only if the situation calls for a bit of excitement.”

Louis mouth pulled into a smirk, preparing to reply but was cut off by the sound of his name being called. Louis turned around. “Yes?” His hand flew up to his chest to rest his palm against it.

“Motambo ripped out his stitches, we just brought him in and lightly sedated him. You wanna keep him calm?” A woman similarly dressed to Louis but with an added surgical mask draped around her neck spoke. When Louis nodded his assent, she pulled the mask up over her mouth and pulled on a pair latex gloves while pushing through a swing through door which led into a room that was visible to outsiders through plexi glass. Harry could see a rather small chimpanzee lying on a surgical table, it's mostly limp body spasming every moment or so.

Louis walked over to the far side of the room to a sink and began lathering his hands. “In case you haven’t figured it out, we’re in the vet section of the floor.”

“What’s happened to M-Motambo?” he asked, pronouncing the name uncertainly.

“It means ‘snare’ in the local language, Lingala. Which is fitting, seeing as that’s the cause for some of his injuries.” Louis shook his head in disgust. He had prompted Harry to follow his actions, and get ‘suited’ up. After Harry washed his hands, he took a lab coat Louis handed him and buttoned it all the way up to his neck after placing his camera and knapsack on the counter.

“Can you tie your hair up, or do you need a hair net?” Louis asked.

“I have a band,” Harry replied, reaching up to gather his hair away from his face with one hand and pull over the elastic from his other hand. His lips were pursed and he caught Louis watching his movements.

“You have to wash your hands again. I should have told you to do your hair first, sorry,” He supplied.

“S’okay.” Harry did what he was told and followed Louis over to the station where supplies were located. There were three different boxes labelled with different sizes of latex gloves. Harry stifled his smirk when he saw Louis reach in for the M size after Harry had gone for the XL size.

“Shut it.” Louis thwacked him in the shoulder with a glove. “Not everyone can be a what? Six foot giant with gangly limbs. Though I guess you do fit in here with the long limbs part, hmm?”

“Listen, why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” Harry retaliated, flippantly waving his hand at Louis while walking away towards the room that contained the small chimpanzee and the female veterinarian.

“Oii!” Louis called. “What do you think yer doing, walking around like you own the place?”

Louis followed after Harry, ensuring to resume his position as leader and brush past Harry to walk through the door first, leading to the chimp. Harry chuckled at the antics of the other man and followed after him.

The veterinarian seemed to be in the midst of getting supplies ready and sterilizing various pieces of equipment. Harry was able to identify some gauze, a pair of scissors, rubbing alcohol, and what looked to be the material that was going to close Motambo’s wound.

“Bethy, this is Mr. Harry Styles, he’s the representative from _National Geographic_ coming to do the piece on the Sanctuary Islands. He knows basically nothing of our operations here.” Louis completely threw Harry under the bus to the veterinarian, who didn’t look amused at the revelation.

Harry tried his best not to flinch as he looked at Bethy. “I’d shake your hand, but protocol dictates I shouldn’t.” He gestured over to Louis. “I wasn’t the initial correspondent that was coming to do the piece, but my co-worker had a death in the family the day before he was scheduled to fly down, and called me last minute in a panic. I was given a one way ticket to Pointe-Noire and instructed to take my laptop and camera and that was about it. I just received his notes last night, as he was otherwise occupied dealing with the funeral arrangements.”

Bethy’s features relaxed and she scolded Louis for making Harry sound inept. Louis stepped out of harm’s way when he realize that Bethy was holding the pair of scissors and turned to Harry.

“Harry, this is Bethy, she's one of the main veterinarians that we have for the Islands, I wouldn’t put it past you to sleep with one eye open, she knows how to wield an array of tools, and if anyone messes with her chimps…well let’s just say she’s got a nasty right hook.”

“You know this from experience?”

“Nah…but Niall does.” Louis grinned.

Harry heard a loud groan come from the woman. “He was hitting, _on my wife!”_

“How was he supposed to know that you two lovely ladies had just been hired here at the Islands? And had just flown into Pointe-Noire,decided to stay at a hotel, and then went out drinking?” Louis gave Bethy a pointed look.

Bethy looked sheepishly at Harry. “So I might have over reacted, but I was drunk, and really tired from the flight.”

Harry looked bemusedly between the two. “So there’s no animosity now though?”

“Oh, no!”

“Oh, yes!”

Harry looked between the pair awkwardly.

“ _Lewis_ , I like Niall just fine. We get along great now. My wife Lynn works as the director of communications, so her and Niall work together.” Harry’s eyes widened in the realization that Bethy was married to the stern woman at the front desk.

“Bethy’s jealous that Niall sees Lynn more than she does some days.”

“But at the end of the day…” Bethy trailed off wordlessly, raising her hands and eyebrows upwards, and pointed her index fingers towards herself with a self-satisfied smirk.

Both men laughed at the implication.

“Okay, enough dawdling, the anaesthesia should be working just fine on Motambo.”

The trio walked towards the table that held the resting chimp. “What happened to him?” Harry wondered aloud.

“Motambo was rescued off a trading boat by Mr.Payne and his crew. He was brought back here and found to be critically ill with tetanus, which makes the muscles seize up and the body to convulse. We also found a deep wound on his wrist from where he had been caught in a snare.”

Bethy explained the chimp’s story to Harry and Louis’ voice carried over the tail end of her sentence to point out that, “He’s missing a few important features.” He pried Motambo’s lips part to reveal that he had several missing teeth.

“Some of his canines are gone. We believe he pulled them out when he was trying to free himself. Part of primates main communication system is through their facial expressions right? Chimps have a few universal expressions with their mouths. The wide spread, open mouth can be a fear grimace, a come-hither, or a yawn threat. The canines are the most visible teeth during these expressions and are what make the display impressive. So socially, Motambo may have a few issues." Louis close his mouth gently, and the chimp’s head jerked involuntarily to the side.

Harry glanced down at the little chimp. “Will Motambo be able to eat?”

“He should be okay, he still has most of his back rows of molars intact, and those are used to grind and mash up fruits and leaves, which is the majority of a chimpanzee’s diet. He might end up avoiding meat. We’ll have to see.” Harry noticed that Louis liked to incorporate hand gestures while he told stories and explained concepts. He had imitated the gesture of mashing and grinding by repeatedly clenching and unclenching his fist—which, realistically wasn't actually an accurate way to depict grinding, but Harry appreciated the theatrics.

“And what happened to his stomach?” Harry gestured to where Bethy had begun wiping down an area on Motambo’s stomach where blood had dried in his hair, Harry could see a gash that was mainly shallow, but there was a section along the right side that was gaping open.

“The wound was caused by whatever the hunters used to tie him up on the boat. Possibly a wire of some sort that was too tight.”

“Okay, I’m going to start threading the stitches. Keep him relaxed, I don’t want to administer any more anaesthesia if we don’t have to,” Bethy addressed Louis as he pulled his hands up to brush the backs of his fingers down the side of Motambo’s face. Louis began cooing soft ‘ou ou’ noises to the young chimp.

Harry snorted.

Bethy paused in her movements and looked up at Louis. “You are a small child,” Bethy remarked.

“I am not. I am a professional. I am a grown man,” he whispered conspiratorially to Motambo. “I speak your language, don’t I hmm?” Louis began stroking the side of Motambo’s face whilst Bethy set to work on lacing the stitches through the wound.

It was quiet in the room save for the humming noises Louis was making and the occasional involuntary jerking motions from Motambo which caused his limbs to clatter nosily against the metal table. Bethy stitched him up quickly with practiced motions, the snip of the scissors cut the string, and then Motambo’s released from her grip. Louis hoisted Motambo up into his arms and began walking out of the clinic. Harry looked to Bethy, hesitant on whether or not he should follow.

“You coming or what?”

Luckily, his predicament was solved, so he removed the lab coat and tossed the gloves into the garbage pail.

“Where should I put this?” He held up the lab coat.

“Just leave it here, I’ll dispose of it when I get rid of mine.” Bethy pulled down her mask and yanked off her gloves, throwing them into the garbage.

“Okay, thank you.” He turned to follow Louis out a door leading to the yard behind the building.

Harry was immediately greeted with a chaotic sight. A rather large group of chimpanzees were huddled around a handful of caretakers in front of a wooden structure. The structure was built like barracks, presumably dormitories for the chimps.

Harry followed Louis timidly into the clearing, most of the chimps ignored the newcomers but a couple approached Louis’ legs, raising their hands up to grip at his pants and waddle beside him as he attempted to walk through the crowd. Harry’s mouth quirked upwards at the sight. It was similar to the way a toddler would cling to their parent’s legs and trail after them. Louis continued past them and walked inside the dormitory, coming back empty handed and closing the door securely behind him.

On his way back, Louis reached down to pick up another small chimpanzee, scooping them up to straddle his hip. Louis looked backwards to Harry. “Well, c’mon, we’re just in time for lunch.”

Harry weaved his way through the crowd of chimps to take a spot beside a table with a number of containers on top. He felt a number of curious hands upon his feet and legs. One chimpanzee stood up on its legs and waddled up to the table, swinging themselves upwards in an effortless motion to land on top. One of the caretakers pushed aside the grabbing hand that reached for something inside one of the buckets.

“No, hold on, wait your turn.” She leaned down to talk to the eager chimp. Once she was satisfied the chimp woudln’t reach for it again, she turned to face Louis and Harry, her brow furrowing.

“Hi, Louis, who’s your friend?”

“This is Harry Styles from _National Geographic_ , he’ll be here for a bit writing a piece about The Sanctuary Islands.”

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you.” Harry smiled at the woman.

She transitioned from English to another language, not French, Harry noticed. She said something to Louis to which he replied, and then turned back to Harry with a smile. “I’m Izzy. Do you want to feed one of the chimps?”

Harry’s eyes widened. “I don’t know if I’m qualified for that.”

Louis laughed, “It’s not rocket science. No different really than feeding a baby.” He reached into the nearest bucket to remove a baby bottle filled with what looked to be milk. The small chimp clinging to his torso is suddenly transferred into Harry’s arms. The chimp stared up at him, seemingly unbothered by the transition, looping an arm around Harry’s back. The chimp had coarse black hair which tickled the back of his neck as the arm brushed underneath his hair. He placed a palm flat against the chimp’s back, hoisting the chimp’s bum upwards.

Louis stepped up to Harry to adjust the chimps leg properly around his waist. He felt Louis’ hand press into his back momentarily before being removed when he was satisfied with the chimp’s position. The heat lingered for longer than the hand was actually there.

Louis handed him the bottle and the chimp raised an arm to help Harry steady the nipple against the its mouth. He made eye contact with Louis when the harsh sucking sounds from the pressure of the chimp drinking against reached his ears. He felt the tips of his ears heat up, and he glanced away in embarrassment. The chimp was clumsy in its motions, eager to get their fill of the milk and causing it to drip down the corners of its mouth.

Louis noticed anyways. “Somebody’s eager to get her fill.” Louis tickled the chimp in the ribs, causing her to jerk and burrow herself deeper into Harry’s chest. The chimp rocked her body forwards and made a happy little noise in the back of her throat.

Louis smiled and turned to help Izzy and some of the other caretakers hand out bottles to the larger chimps. They’re all crowded in close around their feet, and they dutifully accept the bottles in practiced motions. Some chimps wandered further away upon receiving their gift, while others lingered and nudged at the caretakers feet. Smaller chimps were picked up by extra hands and were aided in receiving their drink.

The sounds of a motor creeped up into the clearing and Harry turned to see a wagon pull up from around the side of the building. He laughed when he saw the giant clusters of green bananas hanging over the sides. Along with the bananas, there were other wooden barrels containing an assortment of brightly coloured fruit. A few of the chimps began chattering excitedly, throwing down their empty bottles and wandering over to the wagon. The driver, mindful of the crowd, slowed to a crawl to avoid running over any hands or feet.

Harry noticed that some of the chimps actually handed back their empty bottles to the caretakers, who then thanked them. It’s a scene that he never thought he’d have the privilege to witness. How remarkable the chimpanzees were in their actions, so similar to a human’s. Upon watching the interactions with not only one another, but also with the caretakers and Louis, Harry realized that they were very tactile beings. It seemed that they preferred to always be in touch with another body, whether it was human or primate.

The driver exiting the wagon was laughing at the chimps that began climbing up his legs, he hoisted one up onto his shoulders, and picked up another that reached up for his torso.

“C’mon.” Harry felt Louis’ fingers pull at the fabric of his shirt, so he followed with the chimp still drinking from the bottle in his arms over to the back of the wagon where most of the others had congregated.

Louis leapt up onto the back of the wagon, the wood creaking in protest to the otherwise graceful jump. He began pulling apart bunches of bananas and tossing them down to the outstretched and grabbing hands.

Feeding time turned out to be a frenzy, as the amount of fruit in the back of the wagon began dwindling down in numbers. Harry grabbed a couple of bananas from Louis to hand to the chimp in his arms. She didn’t do anything with them except stare up at Harry, the now empty bottle falling from her lose grip.

“What s’matter?” he murmured. “Don’t tell me you don’t like bananas?”

He made sure that she clung to him securely before plucking the bananas from her hands to peel himself.

“Oh my god.”

Harry looked up. “What?”

Louis was staring at him while he unravelled the fruit and handed her the first banana. The chimp was still looking up at him, but glanced down at the gift, immediately taking it from him and shoving it in her mouth.

“What?” he repeated. “Do I have something on my face?”

“Do you realize that you peel bananas the same way chimpanzees do?” Louis cocked his head and shook it lightly. “Unbelievable,” he muttered under his breath.

“ _What?_ ” Harry repeated again. “What’s it matter how I peel em?”

Louis leaned over to snatch up a banana and jumped down from the wagon directly in front of him. Harry subconsciously took a step backwards but Louis followed with his own step. “Exhibit A.” He held up the banana from the base and peeled down each flap slowly.

Harry felt a frisson run through his abdomen. He was not somehow aroused by the motion. He didn’t know why he would be. _He was not_. He blinked. “So?”

Louis laughed, “Harry, humans don’t normally eat them that way.” He handed the newly peeled banana to the chimp in Harry’s arms and turned around to pluck another. “We do it this way.” He snapped the neck at the top in demonstration, peeled it and gave it to a chimp that eagerly sat on its haunches on the ground waiting. “How did you not know that you peeled bananas differently from the rest of the population?”

Harry shrugged. “I mean. I might have known. I don’t know. I didn’t think it was anything significant.”

“Mr. Styles, you are a prime example of showing the bridge between _pan troglodytes_ and _homo sapiens_ ,” Louis teased.

“ _Pan_ who?”

“ _Pan troglodytes_ , is the scientific name for primates in the classification system of all mammals. But really, you’re avoiding the subject, we should be doing studies on you. See how you compare to the species that shares most of our DNA. Who knows, maybe you share more of theirs on the spectrum, than ours?” Louis held up his fingers to make a square, pretending that it was a camera, the peel dangling from fingers.

“Ha.” Harry deadpanned. He took the the banana peel from Louis and tossed it at him.

Louis’ mouth dropped open. The chimp in Harry’s arms took the stilled moment to raise her arm and point at Louis, letting out a shriek which sounded a lot like laughter.

Louis flicked off a string of banana that stuck to his shirt, then poked at the chimp’s hand and leaned down to pick up the thrown peel, presumably to throw back at Harry. Harry angled his body so that the chimp was between them.

“Ohh, very mature, using the poor unsuspecting primate as a shield.”

“You started it,” Harry tattled.

“Are you offended at the thought of being compared to a primate? We all originally descended from them ya know.”

“No,” he insisted. “I’m offended at the thought of being placed under scrutiny for observational purposes. I am not a specimen.”

Louis demeanour changed. “Yeah, well, tell that to the laboratories that still test on primates,” Louis stated bluntly. It was like a bucket of cold water splashed on the atmosphere.

Harry blanched, “I didn’t mean to—”

Louis waved a hand. “No, I know. My fault, sorry, I got a little melodramatic.”

“Well, I mean, you’re not wrong.” He shrugged his shoulders, rocking the chimp back and forth in his arms. “At least there are plenty more pharmaceutical and beauty product companies that are switching to cruelty free products,” he added helpfully, thinking of his coconut body wash, the brand used all natural products and was free from any harmful chemicals.

“Yeah, I suppose that’s true.” Louis clapped his hands. “Alright, now that feeding time’s over, I think we need to clean up.”

Harry let the subject be changed, looking to see that Izzy had begun going around with a wicker basket, holding it out in front of the chimps for them to toss their peels in. They did so dutifully, most of them lining up to throw their peel in the basket before wandering off away from the wagon. Some chimpanzees had begun grooming one another, while a couple were sat on a fallen log where one chimp had its eyes closed dreamily while the one behind it skillfully picked through the hair.

Harry moved to lift the chimp from his torso, but she clung reluctantly and began snuffling into the crease of his arm and shoulder. “Hey little one, don’t you wanna go join your friends?”

Louis walked up to Harry and not so surreptitiously sniffed him. Harry startled and lifted his head up to stare questioningly at Louis.

“Yeah, I thought I got a whiff of coconut earlier. Scented body wash? The chimps go crazy for that kind of stuff. If you ever go out into the rainforest, make sure you’re not using anything scented.”

“It’s coconut _and_ vanilla,” Harry pointed out unnecessarily. “You standing close enough to smell me huh?”

It was Louis’ turn to look awkward, he stammered out, “I mean, no—”

“Sure,” Harry drawled, pleased upon seeing this usually confident man stammer. Harry switched out his arm from underneath the chimp with the other to give it a bit of a break. The tingling sensation intensifying as he stretched it out, and he inadvertently flexed his arm which drew Louis’ gaze.

Louis coughed and tripped over a banana peel, like a scene out of a cartoon, only he managed to catch himself before falling flat on his arse. Harry bit his bottom lip to avoid laughing out loud and finally transferred the chimp from his arms to the top of the table. She went willingly this time, albeit held an outstretched arm towards him and pursed her lips in a kiss at him. Harry made the motion back at her and turned around to still see Louis watching him.

He decided to test a theory. He rolled up the sleeves of his black T-shirt into a makeshift sleeveless top to accommodate the heat as he helped to pick up discarded fruit peelings. He glanced up slyly at Louis to see if he was watching, curious to explore the interest Louis was possibly projecting.

True enough, he caught Louis staring a second later. He quickly ducked his head down to look at the peelings he was picking up. Harry tried not to grin too widely in triumph, instead focusing his attention on cleaning up the now littered yard.

“Right.” Louis placed the last bottle into the bucket. “I’m heading over to Bebe now.”

Harry tried not to let his disappointment show, but he nonetheless nodded and turned to Izzy for some direction.

Just as he was walking back to the building, Louis turned back around and addressed Izzy, “It’s Tuesday, is game night happening?”

“Game night?” Harry perked up. “What’s that?”

“Yeah, during dinner, everyone comes together from all the islands to eat, and then play a mini tournament of different games. It’s cool because those who aren’t originally from around here have brought games they play in their hometown, and people native to the Republic of the Congo have taught others their games.”

“Yeah, Louis, as far as I’m aware, game night’s happening,” Izzy answered.

Louis _whooped_ , jutting a fist into the air. “I’m still the undefeated champion of ping pong.”

“But not at Mangala.” Izzy crossed her arms and smirked.

“ _Blegh._ Nobody's got time for chess.”

“It’s not chess!”

“It’s very similar to how we play chess in the UK.” Louis sniffed.

Izzy rolled her eyes. “Go back to Bebe, I’ll take care of the photographer here, give him something to do.” She gestured with a thumb at Harry.

Harry displayed his teeth in a dopey grin at his mention.

“Prepare to lose at ping pong later Mr.Styles.” Louis saluted him.

“Don’t bet on it Mr.Tomlinson.”

Louis breathed an airy laugh, turning away to leave the yard.

Harry let a smile of his own sneak onto his face. He thought to himself that coming here was already turning out to be better than he originally expected.

It was later in the day when Harry finally met the last Englishman here at the facility. He stopped in the doorway of the cafeteria, unsure of where to go, but was suddenly yanked from standing awkwardly and made to follow Niall over to a group standing by the makeshift ping pong table.

There was about twenty people all together in the room, all sat with plates of food off to the side of their games. He saw one group playing with a deck of cards, a duo was in the corner with a beautiful wooden board with shallow holes carved throughout. Small stones placed in groups of twos or fours in each hole. The pair sat in intense concentration, hands stuffed underneath their chins in thought. It was very similar to how a game of chess would look.

When he asked, Niall replied with, “Mangala.” This confirmed Harry’s thought, as he’d remembered the comments from Izzy and Louis earlier.

Niall deposited Harry at the ping pong table and said, “I’ll go get you some food.”

Harry was left with Louis and another man. The man was a stark contrast to Niall’s light features, instead of blonde, he had long, jet black hair that was tied up into a small ponytail. He sported some scruff along his jaw, and an earring dangled from his ear. He wore similar clothing to Louis: simple white T-shirts, and loose, navy scrub pants.

Louis broke the quiet, “This is Harry Styles.”

“Ahh yes, Louis mentioned you,” the man answered, staring impassively at Harry. Harry tried not to hunch into himself at the steely gaze. He shook the hand of tall, dark and handsome, keeping a firm grip and saying brightly, “All good things I hope.”

“Hmm, yes—”

Louis coughed, “This is Zayn Malik, he works with me on Bebe island.”

Zayn shifted his gaze over at the interruption. “Yes, I keep Louis in line,” he stated.

“Excuse you—”

“You’re excused,” Zayn interrupted. “Now, Harry, are you good at ping pong?”

Harry looked between the two men, hesitating. It felt like a test. “I’d say I’m quite…proficient.”

“Excellent, you’re on my team then.” Zayn relaxed his steely features and grinned at him, handing him a paddle and taking up his place at one side of the table.

Niall came back bearing food, gesturing at it to Harry before placing it down on the bench, but not before stealing what looks to be a chip of some sort. Harry pulled his hair up into a bun, and jumped in place, making a show of rolling his shoulders back and tilting his head as if to stretch.

“Ohhh, he’s tying the hair back for this, they’ve both pulled it all back now,” Louis scoffed at Zayn and Harry. He turned to fist bump Niall as they took their positions, bending over slightly and raising their paddles into the ‘ready’ position.

Zayn handed him the ball. “Since you’re new, you get to do the honours.”

Harry placed a hand up to his chest and batted his eyelashes. “You’re too kind.”

“Just serve,” Zayn said with a roll of his eyes.

As so, the game began. The three men met Harry’s talents equally. Louis was quick and snappy, able to pick up the the shots that careened wildly off the side of the table, while Niall had a wicked stroke with topspin. Zayn was calculative in his movements, able to predict where the next shot would land, and Harry tried his best to make himself a worthy partner.

They were playing the best of twenty-one points, and the score was currently nineteen-eighteen for Louis and Niall.

Louis went to serve, but paused. “So what are the stakes? What do the winners get?”

“You can’t just make up stakes in the middle of the game now, it has to be beforehand.” Harry flapped his paddle at Louis in disgruntlement. 

“Nah, you don’t know the rules here mate,” Niall said, grinning deviously.

Zayn clicked his tongue and rested his hands down on the table in front of him. He hung his head down between his shoulders in silence for a moment. A moment passed before he slowly raised his head, a positively devious grin laced through his features. Harry saw Louis swallow his throat thickly.

“If we win,” Zayn paused for dramatic effect by lifting a finger up. “You have to eat a mopane.”

Louis’ shudder was visible, he turned to Niall and said, “Aw hell no. Okay mate, I really don’t wanna lose.”

Niall just threw his head back and laughed. Harry turned to Zayn and asked, “What’s a mopane?”

“It’s a bloody caterpillar!” Louis shouted across the table. “Honestly Zayn, you’re a terrible person. Where’s Liam? He always keeps you in line.”

Zayn scoffed, “Excuse me, you’re way worse than I am. I don’t need to be… _managed_ by Liam, thank you very much.” He crossed his arms and sent a withering stare.

“Fine,” Louis agreed. “If we win. Sorry, _when_ we win, you have to skinny dip in the river.” Louis’ grin was smug.

Harry blinked. That didn’t seem so difficult…sure, the water had looked really murky when he saw it this morning, but it was just a simple jump. He looked over at Zayn to see that his arms had fallen from their crossed position and he was openly glaring at Louis.

“Just know that I won’t forget about this for a long time if you end up winning.” Zayn held up his paddle at and waved it at Louis. “Serve you twat.”

“Wait, what’s so bad about the river?” Harry asked.

Zayn’s jawline tightened. “Nothing. Louis just knows that I don’t like swimming, especially in water that’s not in a pool. Aka fresh or salt water.”

“Well. I mean, I wouldn’t exactly say there’s _nothing,_ in the river,” Louis taunted, picking an invisible fluff off his shirt.

Harry’s voice caught in his throat. “Li—like…what exactly? ”

“Ohh you know, all kinds of amphibians and reptiles.”

“Yeah nice try, the amphibians are mostly frogs,” Zayn spat back.

“And the reptiles Zaynie?” Louis raised his eyebrows and blinked innocently at him.

Zayn pursed his lips and didn’t say anything.

“Okay, well is this even a safe bet then?” Harry inquired, turning to Niall for some guidance.

Louis spoke instead, “No less safe than me eating a damn caterpillar!”

Niall ignored the man huffing beside him, addressing Harry, “It’ll just be off the dock right outside, you won’t have to go too far.”

“Let’s get _on with it_.” Zayn clapped his hand against his paddle to draw everyone’s attention.

The four men resumed their positions, and the game continued with Louis’ serve. It was fairly quiet in the cafeteria, most of the people in it watching the last few points of their game, the only loud noise was the clacking sound of the ball hitting the table and paddles repeatedly.

Harry was playing it safe with his movements, he wasn’t aiming for any special trick shots. Instead focusing on dutifully hitting the ball back over the net and onto the other side, not too far, and not too short.

The rallies were lasting a long time, and with the increasing length, the men were becoming rowdier. Louis and Niall managed to score another point, bringing it to twenty to eighteen, needing one final point to win.

Harry could tell they were getting excited, and they dropped the ball so to speak, and became over eager in their next shot, hitting the ball too far, causing it to soar past the length of the table. Harry dodged out of the way at the last second to avoid touching the ball, earning him and Zayn a point: twenty to nineteen.

Louis looked to each man before nodding and throwing the next serve. Harry returned it to Niall who bumped it back to him, and feeling optimistic, Harry’s tongue peeked through his lips in concentration, and he wound up his hand to smash it diagonally to Louis with the hopes of him being unable to return it. Harry dumped the ball directly into the net, and his lips fell open, “Shit.”

They lost.

Louis’ and Niall’s ecstatic shouts were dramatic and lengthy, epically bumping chests before slamming their paddles down onto the table and raising their fists into the air.

Harry looked at Zayn and shrugged sheepishly. “Oops?”

Zayn hung his head in defeat. “No worries man.” He pointed a finger at him and said, “But if you’re coming to my island tomorrow, you can most definitely have the task of giving one of my chimps medicine, he always gets mad at me for it. So, you can have that role.”

“Medicine?”

“Yeah it’s disguised in a bottle of milk.”

“Alright boys! Eat up, then it’s time for you to uphold your end of the bet.” Louis clapped his hands and rubbed them delightedly.

Zayn grumbled nonsensically under his breath, before blurting out, “Niall, as director, don’t you think that you shouldn’t be condoning these actions?”

“Give it a rest Zayn!” Louis punched him in the arm.

Niall waved a hand in a flippant manner. “As long as it doesn’t affect the budget, then I don’t care. Just don’t break the dock when you jump off, then I’ll be mad.” He pointed two fingers at his eyes and then at Harry and Zayn in an _I’m watching you_ gesture.

Harry saluted him and nodded his head. He offered up his plate to Zayn to eat in consolation. “Here, I’ll go get another one for myself.”

“Thanks.”

“Hey, don’t worry, it’ll be quick jump in and then we’ll climb right back out right?”

Zayn just nodded his head at him, Harry made a face at Louis when he walked past him. “Are you sure Zayn’s going to be able to carry out his end of the bet?” he murmured.

Louis scoffed, “He’s just playing the role to try and get out of it. He’ll be fine.”

“Alright, if you say so.”

Renee greeted him jovially and gave him a heaping plate of food. He wasn’t able to finish it all, but he asked her if she could at least wrap up the kwanga so he could snack on it later.

Louis led the foursome out of the cafeteria and towards the dock, chattering excitedly, “I don’t think I’ve seen Zayn in the water since he got pushed into a pool at a party during undergrad. That’s a long time ago now, what, seven years ago?”

Zayn just continued to grumble and looked up towards the darkening sky as he pushed through the door. Harry held it open for Niall and their feet crunched on the scattered rocks that littered the path towards the dock.

Patrick was waiting at the end of the dock by the boat, but came onto the shore at Louis’ beckoning. “Zaynie and Harry here lost a bet during game night, they have to jump into the river.”

“Ohhh ho ho ho. Good luck with that fellas. I think I saw a snake slither by earlier.” He grinned widely, wiggling his hand like a snake.

Harry’s heart fluttered nervously and he glanced towards the murky water, swallowing the lump in his throat. He took a deep breath before grabbing Zayn’s upper arm and dragging him onto the dock, leaving the other men standing on the sand.

“Wh—what are you _doing_.” Zayn stumbled along after him, wrenching his arm from Harry’s grip but nonetheless following him.

“Don’t think about it, just do it. We have to do it quickly so we don’t let the fear fester in our minds and cause it to swell up like a hot air balloon.”

He raised his arms up to pull off his shirt over his head, the movement yanking the hair tie out from the bun. He shook out the rest of his hair as he continued to speak. He heard a cat call come from the shore.

“You know, how the balloon takes forever to rise up off the ground, but then once you get momentum, you shoot upwards? Following the wind in the sky? That’s exactly what fear is like, once the little seed is planted into your mind.” He prodded at the side of his head harshly. “Then it just, grows like a weed,” he finished, running out of breath just as he finished removing all of his clothing except for his briefs.

Zayn was staring at him with a look somewhere between amusement and disgust. “What?” he repeated.

Harry rolled his hand in a _hurry up_ motion. “Let’s go, let’s go.” He clapped his hands at Zayn, who frantically tore off his shirt at Harry’s urgency, his necklace bouncing against his chest and swaying when he tipped his body to toe off his boots and stumbled. Harry kept clapping until they were both left in their briefs and he grappled for Zayn’s hand, clasping it firmly as he began tearing down the length of the dock.

“Hey!” He heard a shout out from somewhere behind them, causing Zayn to try and stop to turn around, but Harry’s movement forward threatened to pull his arm out of his socket, so he acquiesced and stumbled with Harry off the dock with a giant leap into the water.

Harry let out a hoot just before letting go of Zayn’s hand to plunge into the river. He kicked his feet and brought his hands up to swim to the surface. His eyes were squeezed shut and the fizz of the bubbles tickled his face when he swam up through them to the surface, wiping a hand across his face to remove some of the water.

He whipped his head around, seeking out the head of dark hair. He treaded water, breathing in deeply through his nose, the faint smell of dirt and musky water filled his nostrils, and he shook his head to prevent the water from his curls dripping into his eyes.

Zayn finally popped up above the water beside him, gasping deeply and sputtering lightly. He immediately began swimming to the edge of the dock, and Harry followed behind after him.

“Ugh,” Zayn moaned, his arm swooped through the water in a forearm stroke. “I haven’t swam in so long.”

Harry moved leisurely through the water, forgetting about the mention of the snakes possibly in the water until Louis’ voice was suddenly speaking from above, “Feel anything slithering between your ankles?” His voice sounded smug.

Zayn pushed a hand against the water to splash up onto the dock, but Louis saw his movement and stepped backwards just out of reach.

Zayn gripped the handle of the ladder and hauled himself up onto the dock, taking with him a large swoosh of water that soaked the wood. Harry himself headed up afterwards just in time to hear Louis shriek out Zayn’s name and he looked up to see that Zayn had engulfed Louis in his arms and was smothering him into his chest.

Louis shoved him off and flicked out his hands to remove the excess water. “You two didn’t follow the rules by the way.”

“What’s that?” Zayn said.

“You were supposed to go skinny dipping. As in _nude_. I wanted a snake to have access to your dick.”

Zayn rolled his eyes and bent low to scoop up his clothing, clapping Niall on the back and depositing himself into the boat tied up at the dock. “Ready when you are Patrick, let’s leave Louis here for the night.”

Harry flipped his head over and mussed up his hair, flipping back upright and flinging water droplets in Louis’ direction.

Harry knelt down to pick up his clothing, straightening up and saying to Louis, “I know you want to see the goods, but this leaves more to the imagination now doesn’t it?” He winked at Louis, who began sputtering in reply.

Harry slowed his speed as he walked past him, making sure his wet body brushed up against Louis’ bare arm. He gripped his crumpled up clothing in a ball against his chest at the heat he felt transferred between them.

He felt Louis flinch away from him and Harry smiled to himself, continuing his journey back to the building. He could feel the pounding of his heart echoing in his ears.

Harry spent the next couple of mornings sitting down in the cafeteria with a mug of steaming, bitter coffee, and a plate filled to the brim with a variety of fresh fruit placed in front of him. Today was no different, the steam from the coffee rose in small wisps, the sunlight filtering in through the glass windows created a soft, warm glow.

He always seemed to be one of the first to arrive down to the cafeteria for breakfast. Despite the now familiarity of his surroundings, his habit of being an early riser in new countries hadn’t seemed to break. He had therefore taken to shuffling downstairs with his laptop and camera to upload the previous day’s photos and edit them to his satisfaction while he drank his coffee and watched the cafeteria fill up with sleepy individuals.

Renee would leave her post to come and sit with Harry for a couple of minutes each morning, leaning over his shoulder to compliment Harry for the, _‘Just absolutely stunning photographs!’_

Harry in return would allow her to pack up some sort of new and intriguing food as a snack to take with him for the day. He had a bad habit of forgetting to bring water with him for his day trips to the islands, but Renee had seemed to take it upon herself to become Harry’s mother hen during his stay here.

“How’s the article coming along?” Renee had her head resting in the palms of her hands, but turned it slightly to address Harry.

Harry ducked his head down. “I haven’t started it yet.”

Renee’s face changed to one looking reproachful.

“‘M sorry, I’ve been distracted by going to Tchindzoulou the past few days, I like the chimps there!”

“Well yeah, they’re quite a rowdy bunch and a hoot. But you’ve been here for a couple of days now, don’t you have enough information to write?” Renee hummed.

Harry scrambled for an excuse, “Well technically no, I haven’t been over to Bebe Island yet, I can’t exactly begin writing without gathering all the info about each island now can I?”

Renee pursed her lips and glared at him. She opened her mouth to retort back, “I think—”

“Good morning Renee! And...Harry Styles right?” Liam’s voice suddenly cut off whatever she had been about to reprimand him for. “Can I steal one of these?” Liam gestured to the couple of water bottles Renee had placed down beside Harry earlier.

Harry nodded and handed him one of the bottles. Liam tilted his head in thanks and made to turn back in the direction he came, but Harry stood up and addressed him, “I’ll walk out with you, I’m going to head over to Bebe.” He quickly closed his laptop and stuffed his equipment into his knapsack, shooting Renee a-not-so apologetic smile and gave her a quick one-armed hug before walking briskly to follow Liam out the door.

The two men were silent walking down the hall until Harry broke it to ask, “What does today’s schedule consist of for the Liaison for the African Wildlife Foundation?”

Liam chuckled, “Nothing too exciting today I’m afraid. I’m actually going to join you over on Bebe shortly I think. I just want to go for a quick run, gotta change first.”

Harry looked shocked. “In this heat? How can you stand it,” he asked.

“You kinda get used to it mate.” Liam grinned wryly.

“Fair enough.” Harry nodded sagely. “I think I would need to wear one of those hats with drinks attached to the sides with long tubes to the mouth. Know what I mean?” Harry drew a line from his ear to his mouth, pursing his lips as if to drink.

Liam looked at him with something akin to a mixture of hesitation and amusement plastered on his face. He finally laughed out loud, “I think that would just rock back and forth on your head and give you a headache, yeah?”

“Ohh, hmm, yeah maybe,” Harry acquiesced. “You look all official in your uniform, mind if I take a picture?” Harry raised his camera up in question.

Liam looked taken aback. “Me? What for. Isn’t it the chimps you should be taking pictures of?”

“Well yeah, I will. But it’s also the people who are protecting and rehabilitating them that make this facility worthwhile right?”

Liam smiled softly, and tilted his head. “Yeah, I guess it is. How should I pose?”

Harry shrugged. “It’s up to you. Do you want to look posed, or normal and relaxed?”

Liam hummed, “I could pretend to be all stern like.” He crossed his arms and furrowed his eyebrows. His muscles bulged against the edge of the T-shirt on his arms, creating the effect of looking like it was about to rip open like the Hulk.

Harry quirked a eyebrow at him and Liam’s facial features relaxed as a laugh bubbled out of him. Harry took the opportune moment to raise his camera up and snap a picture quickly.

He looked down to the screen to see the still of Liam had transformed from the angry man to a one that was approachable and kind. He had hunched over forward slightly when he had laughed, but his arms remained folded over and his eyes were crinkled with his mouth open in laughter. It automatically made Harry smile and he nodded his head, curls bouncing. “That’s a good one, thanks.”

“No problem mate. Alright, I’m off.” He gave Harry a pat on the shoulder and walked off down the hallway.

Harry turned to the door, pushing through with his back out into the heat. He wasn’t paying attention to where he was walking, still focused on the camera, and tripped over a branch lying on the ground. He yelped as he careened towards the ground but was suddenly yanked back upwards by a strong grip on his elbow. He looked up into the bright face of Niall, who deposited him right side up, steadying him with a firm grip upon his shoulders.

“Whew, thanks. That could have been disastrous.” Harry widened his eyes dramatically, and blew a breath out through his lips, before he smiled sheepishly.

Niall smiled at him. “You headed out again?”

“Yeah I think I’ll go over to Bebe Island today.”

“Cool, Lynn’s making me sit down to make decisions.” Niall fake pouted.

“Oh? Not important ones I hope. It’s too early for those kinds of decisions. I could barely decide what to eat this morning,” Harry said.

Niall waved a hand. “Nahh I think it has to do with choosing schemes for the page on the website about the Sanctuary Islands. She’s been emailing back and forth with a web designer. Hey, actually, do you have a minute? I know you’re a photographer, but you’ve got an eye for aesthetic dontcha?”

“I mean, I have an idea of things looking good.” Harry smiled abashedly. “I can come take a look if you want.”

Niall nodded enthusiastically. “I do want.”

Harry followed him back inside to the front desk. Lynn had disappeared somewhere so Niall took her seat and brought up a website page that was clearly under construction. The page was mostly blank, save the title at the top which was a simple black font stating ‘Sanctuary Islands.’

Niall then brought up another page which was an open email with a list of choices of different themes for a website.

Harry leaned over Niall’s shoulder to take over the mouse and clicked open each preview of the possible themes. He hummed in thought, his lips pursed and he made a noise of disagreement for almost every option, stating various thoughts like, ‘No, not enough room for content,’ or ‘too boring.’

Prior to clicking open the last option, Harry suggested, “I feel like you need something modern looking with a lot of colour, like the rainforest. Pictures as headers at the top with navigational dropbox options along the bottom of the picture, linking to the different pages, and each page with a different photo at the top. Do you know what I mean? Then along the right hand side, you can have a standard info box that appears the same on each page. And then the centre and the left hand side will be the content that you want on each page.”

He clicked open the last open, _tsking_ , before clicking reply to the email and scooting Niall out of the way. “Can I write them my suggestion? I can take some photos to use as the headers, edit them and send it all over to the designer to work with and mock up what I was saying?”

Niall looked flabbergasted. “You would do that?” he asked.

Harry shrugged. “Yeah why not? It’s not like it’s difficult for me, or even a burden. It’ll give me something to do at nighttime.”

“Well then yes please,” Niall blurted out. “Lynn’s gonna kill me for agreeing to it, but honestly mate, I don’t even know where to begin putting together a stylish website.”

Harry chuckled, “It can be hard if you don’t have a vision in your mind. But I think you can capture the viewer’s attention with a bold webpage and lots of pictures.”

Harry typed out the requests to the designer before standing back and letting Niall read it over. “Oh, find out how many pages you want to have, so I know how many pictures I need to take.”

Niall looked away from Harry’s face, nodding, and adding it to the bottom of the email, pressing send with a click of the mouse button. “Well! That was easy!” Niall looked up at him and grinned.

Harry laughed, “Okay, I’m going to head over now, let me know when you get a reply. Or actually, just forward the email to me.” He bent over and scribbled down his email address on the notepad that was beside the computer.

He threw the pen down and walked back outside into the heat. He had only been inside for a few minutes, but the sun was making its way higher into the sky, the rays already hotter than yesterday.

It wasn’t until about half hour later that he finally stepped off the boat onto Bebe Island. Patrick apparently wasn’t around, so Harry had to go back inside to ask Lynn, who had returned to the desk, for another driver over to the island.

Bebe Island was further along down the river and was noticeably smaller than Tchindzoulou, the main building almost directly in front of him on the shoreline.

Harry walked up the short path and swiped his pass against the pad on the door. The lock clicked open and he entered the cool building, walking into a foyer with a number of doors and windows beside them. He spotted a head of dark hair in the room directly in front of him, so he went up to the window and knocked on the pane.

Zayn’s head swivelled around, the lines on his face were furrowed in intense concentration, but relaxed upon recognition of Harry. He got up from his seat, taking the Ipad in his hands and opened the door for Harry.

“Morning,” he mumbled. His voice was hoarse in the back of his throat.

“Morning! I hope I’m not interrupting anything too important?”

“Mmm, nah, I’m just looking at some charts of Elsie’s behavioural patterns. She seems to be changing them drastically from day to day and I can’t figure out why…” Zayn trailed off as he walked back to his seat.

Harry wandered further into the room, taking in the atmosphere. It was less clinical looking than some of the rooms on Tchindzoulou, a bunch of photographs were tacked up on a bulletin board. Harry spotted both Zayn and Louis posed with some chimpanzees, some individually, some together. They had smiles plastered on their faces each time, looking genuinely happy.

There was another smaller photo, a clearly younger Zayn and Louis standing together with their arms around each other’s shoulders, lab coats unbuttoned, and graduation caps half falling off their heads. Harry smiled at the tassels waving in the wind of the picture, they had their thumbs up and eager grins on their faces, ready to take on the world.

Harry’s attention was drawn away from the wall at the sound of Zayn’s voice.

“If you were unhappy about something you would communicate it right? We as humans communicate with language, and when there’s a barrier, we use gestures, or emotions.”

Harry wasn’t sure if Zayn was directly addressing him, so he waited a minute before he said, “I would do something to change it.”

Zayn turned towards Harry as if he had forgotten that he wasn’t alone in the room. He blinked blankly at him, before standing up to walk over to the other side of the room to plug in the iPad. “The thing that’s so incredible about primates is their communication skills,” Zayn spoke off in a different tangent.

He walked over towards Harry and picked up a folder that was placed on the desk behind him, opening it up to reveal a profile picture of a chimpanzee. He tapped the chimp’s face. “We have a mother, Elsie, who’s been having these incredible mood swings. I get the feeling she thinks we’re being dumb by not being able to understand what it is that’s bothering her. So, by your theory, she’s at least got us to at least notice that something’s wrong. The next question would be to figure out what why she’s changed her habits.” Zayn scrambled to write something down in the folder, his thinking out loud must’ve warranted some sort of solution for him.

Harry stood patiently while Zayn jotted down some notes.

Zayn finally looked up. “Sorry, I tend to go off in different directions when I’m thinking out loud. Louis hates it. Says I need a tape recorder on at all times to try and keep up with me.” The corner of Zayn’s mouth turned upwards. “Do you need anything specific from me today?”

“No, I just wanted to come see what you guys do here. What you’re talking about sounds really interesting though. Tell me more?”

Zayn nodded his head enthusiastically. “What sets primates apart from other species is the similarity of their communicative language to that of humans. It’s what’s made them so obviously fascinating to study over the past hundred years or so. I mean, most animals have a number of different ways of communicating, but primates are neat because they have both non vocal and vocal sounds as part of their auditory communication. As an example, a non vocal sound is like a male silverback gorilla beating its chest.”

Zayn began beating his clenched up fists against his chest as he spoke, “It’s a visual aspect of communication, meaning _‘warning, back off, I am superior to you!_ ’

“Then for vocalizations, you have long range calls, which allows primates to communicate with other groups who are physically distant from one another. Say the first social group is gathered up in the trees while the second group is down by the river drinking." Zayn spread his hands wide apart to indicate distance. He then brought them closer together. “There’s short range calls, which is the opposite of long range obviously.” He stared at Harry pointedly. “Mainly used to maintain group cohesion such as indicating dominance and such.”

“You have lost calls, for the wandering primate; there’s copulatory calls.” Zayn waggled his eyebrows up and down, and Harry rolled his eyes in response. Zayn continued, “Infant specific calls, which they usually grow out of.”

“They have alarm calls to indicate when there is a predator nearby, which is actually very fascinating because this is part of what makes primates unique.” Harry noticed that Zayn’s voice was changing the more excited he got explaining to Harry, it was different than his usual drawl.

“We as humans, have language that’s referential right? Meaning we can refer to things outside of ourselves. Animal’s communication was once upon a time thought to only be representative of their internal state. So they can vocalize a state, such as being about to attack, but can’t reference objects.”

“And then we began studying primates, particularly their referential calls, because it was found that they had certain alarm calls for _specific predators_ ,” Zayn enunciated.

“For example”—Zayn held up three fingers—“the vervet, an Old World Monkey, has three classes of alarm calls. One for snakes, leopards, and eagles.” He counted the animals down off his fingers. “The receiver of the alarm call would perform a different action in response to whichever alarm call they heard.”

Zayn walked over to a filing cabinet and pulled open a drawer that rattled with its contents. From a brief glance, Harry saw that it was filled with an organized row of tape recorders. Zayn wiggled his fingers as he flipped through the stacks. He gave a triumphant _‘ha!’_ upon discovering what he was looking for.

“If it was a snake alarm call, the receiver will stand up on their hind legs when they hear this.”

Harry heard a click of the recorder button before a series of extremely high pitched, fast paced chatter calls began emanating from the player.

Harry looked up at Zayn when the call ended, and Zayn paused the recorder. “Upon hearing the warning call about an eagle—” he pressed play again to release a lower pitched grunt. Zayn spoke over the trail end of the alarm call, his voice raised so Harry could hear him, “Vervet’s will run down from the trees and hide in the bushes.”

He paused the recorder again. “The leopard alarm call is a series of short inhalations and exhalations in rapid succession. Then they'll run up a tree and hide from the leopard.” Zayn played the last of the calls on the recorder before clicking it off and placing it back in its spot in the drawer.

“It’s difficult to truly determine whether or not the alarm calls are referential because upon hearing the sound”—Zayn pointed at his ears—“does it then create the image of the predator in the vervet’s mind?” His hands followed the words to gesture up to his head. “Or does it just startle them, causing them to run up the tree?” His fingers made little flitting motions mimicking the act of running. Zayn finally lifted his hands up and shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s not my area of expertise exactly, I don’t sit in the trees waiting and recording data to try and determine which could be true.” He grinned at Harry before wandering over to a door that lead out to the enclosure. Harry followed him without a word, trying to process the onslaught of information. He was learning a lot.

Zayn pushed through the door and held it open for Harry on his way out. They were greeted with a waft of humid air mixed with the smell of wet grass and dirt from the rain the night before.

The enclosure consisted of a wide expanse littered with trees, tire swings strung up by thick cord-like rope hung down from the branches. Harry spotted what looked to be a mother chimpanzee and her baby curled up together, slowly swinging back and forth in one of the tires. The mother looked at the two intruders as the door shut behind them. Multiple wooden climbing structures were constructed with mesh nets connecting them together to form a playground. A small chimpanzee was seen playing with a tetherball by themselves, but finally grew bored and walked away on its knuckles when it decided that it wasn’t as fun with no one around to hit the ball back.

“So, if you don't hang about in trees with the chimps”—he grinned wryly at Zayn—“what exactly do you do here?”

“I work with Louis rehabilitating chimps that were rescued from around the world from either cosmetic laboratories, or circuses, which is where they usually come from. The ones we have in here right now are about halfway through their rehabilitation program. They aren’t nearly as skittish around humans as they were when they first arrived, and their wounds are all healed, but they’re not quite ready to go join a larger group.”

Other than the three chimps already noticed, Harry saw two more chimpanzees hunched over on a fallen long. The smaller of the two was sitting behind the larger one picking something off its back with long nimble digits.

Zayn pointed at the pair. “The one being groomed seems to have taken the role as the dominant male of this group, his name is George. The group that we have in here doesn’t really resemble the typical social structure of chimpanzees, which is multi male and multi female, fission fusion. Meaning that the entire large group will break up into smaller groups, but come back together at the end of the day. It’s kind of difficult to do that when there’s only six of them here.”

Harry glanced around the enclosure, counting out only five that he could immediately see.

Zayn continued, “There’s only one female here in this group.” Zayn pointed at the mother swinging in the tire. “Elsie and her infant Joe. The one that was playing with the ball is Hank, and the chimp grooming George is Hunter.”

Zayn crossed his arms. “Hunter must have challenged George again, there tends to always be another male who will occasionally challenge the dominant male for his spot, and when he fails, their way of apologizing is to groom them. We’re actually quite lucky that this group is doing this well, George and Hunter are the most ‘normal’”—he held up fingers as air quotes—“chimps, and acting this way is a good thing. Elsie’s pretty protective of Joe, and Hank is a bit of a loner. He’s pretty small for a fully grown male chimp, his living conditions were terrible, being inside cages 24/7 really stunted his growth.”

Harry frowned, an unpleasant image created in his mind at Zayn’s words.

Zayn must have noticed Harry’s displeasure for he reassured him, “Don’t worry.” He reached out to clasp a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “He’s recovering quite well despite his treatment. He responds well to us here and is slowly making Elsie like him. I think she’ll adopt him as her own as well soon.” Zayn smiled before indicating with a nod of his head for Harry to look at Hank.

Hank had waddled over on two feet over to where Elsie still sat swinging with Joe. Elsie seemed to be eying him warily but made no immediate movements when Hank raised an arm up to rest his palm against Joe’s head. Hank pursed his lips and and leaned his head forward.

Harry quietly swung his camera bag down to zip it open and retrieve his camera. He squatted down and quickly turned it on to take some shots. They were far away enough that the clicking wouldn’t disturb the scene.

Zayn had a smile on his face as he watched the interaction. Joe finally woke up from his perch in Elsie’s arms and sat up to better address Hank. Joe was making chattering sounds at Hank and Hank cooed in response to him before releasing a hoot and suddenly turning around and knuckle walking— _running_ , towards the mesh net attached to the playground. Joe let out a series of squeals before jumping down and following him. Harry slowly moved forward as Elsie stayed motionless, but she finally drew her attention to the clicking and whirring of Harry’s camera.

Harry continued taking snapshots of the two chimps running and then drew the lens back to look at Elsie, his face still hidden behind the camera and looking through the viewfinder. He froze as he realized that Elsie had got up off the swing and was slowly walking towards him on her knuckles, her expression unreadable, she didn’t seem as friendly as the chimps he had already met. The lightbulb went off a second later in his head as he realized that it must be because she was still in the rehabilitation stage.

“What do I do,” he whispered to Zayn.

“Just let her meet you. She’s probably more interested in the camera than you.”

“Oh, thanks,” Harry replied dryly.

“You’re welcome,” Zayn chirped back. He moved to stand closer beside Harry, evidently unconcerned, so Harry attempted to relax his tense shoulders. He took a couple more photos of Elsie looking directly into the camera before stopping altogether.

Upon reaching him, Harry watched through the viewfinder as Elsie raised a hairy arm up to the front and prodded at the lens with her digits. Harry slowly moved the camera down from his face so he could get a proper look at her.

She gazed directly into his eyes, her lips fallen open in a soft pant. Her eyes were bronze coloured, and lines of wrinkles adorned her face. The hair surrounding her face was a shade lighter than black, her face and protruding ears bare of hair, her skin tan in colour. There was a scar above her upper lip that accentuated her already large jaw.

Elsie snuffed against the side of his face, her lips tickling his ears. Harry closed his eyes and ducked his head a bit to avoid the tickling. She moved more to the side of him and Harry peeked through his eyes just in time to feel her promptly poke him in the ear. Harry squawked, reeling backwards and laughing. Elsie wasn’t a big fan of his motions, for she turned around and bounded in the other direction.

Harry blinked at her actions, turning to Zayn for an explanation, but all he received in reply was a shrug.

“Like I said, unpredictable mood swings.”

“It’s too bad she can’t communicate it with you better,” Harry murmured.

"I mean, I've only been examining primate communication for seven years now, I should be able to figure it out," Zayn grumbled, mostly to himself, but Harry heard him.

“Didn’t you say that you didn’t study primate communication?" Harry stood up from his crouched position and kicked out his legs to stretch the tight muscles.

"Not on paper exactly, studying primate communication was just always an intriguing aspect to me. My absolute favourite thing however, is the great language debate.”

“Which is?” Harry inquired.

“Ever since humans started studying primates, there’s been the topic of debate about whether or not they have the capacity for language. Because it was originally thought that language was a uniquely human trait. So with their already interesting vocal and nonvocal communicative traits, it raised the question about whether or not they have the ability to understand human language. More so...than say a dog. Who can learn to comprehend basic phrases."

Zayn walked away from Harry over to the far side of the yard. Harry's brows furrowed, wondering where he was headed, but he glimpsed a flash of brown hair and he looked past Zayn to see Louis sitting on the grass with his legs crossed, a blue pair of jean shorts showcasing muscles in his toned and slightly hairy legs. His lab coat was absent, and he’d ditched his usual converse for bare feet. He was tickling a chimp that sat in the crease of his legs, grinning at the series of squeals released by the chimp in reaction to the fingers probing into the coarse hair. He wasn't sure how he had initially missed seeing Louis when they first entered the yard, but his placement in the back corner had concealed him from the main areas of the grounds.

Louis still hadn't seen them yet, and Harry smiled at the sight of the chimpanzee in Louis' lap squirming at the prodding fingers. Harry tapped Zayn and held up his camera, indicating his wishes. Zayn stopped walking, so he quietly brought his camera up to freeze the image. The _click_ of the camera button startled the little chimp and Harry was suddenly faced with wide eyes peering inquisitively at him. Louis glanced up when the chimp stilled, his eyes making contact with Harry's. Louis leaned forward and said something quietly into the chimp's ear.

The chimp made a soft cooing noise in response before facing Louis again and making a gesture with its long fingers. Harry’s hands froze in mid air, the camera still in his hands. The chimp was performing sign language.

Harry quickly began taking a series of snapshots as he heard Louis say, ‘friend,’ out loud to the chimp. Harry saw Louis do a series of hands motions back to the chimp.

Harry whipped his head around to find Zayn, who was standing only a couple of feet behind him, “How…?” Harry trailed off.

Zayn grinned. “Harry, I’d like you to meet Eli. Eli came from Los Angeles and was raised in captivity in a circus. We believe his previous owners taught him a series of simple signs as part of his performance in the show. We’ve since expanded some of his vocabulary.”

“Was he treated very badly?” Harry frowned at the thought. His immediate perception of animals and circus rings was that of poor treatment and terrible living conditions.

“We’re not entirely sure, he has less than the average amount of scars on his body that chimps in the wild would usually have, so that's a plus. But the question begs as to where his existing scars originated from. The reason he’s here with us now is that someone put an anonymous tip in that Eli was depressed. We think it was one of the caretakers at the circus. So when we went in to investigate, we declared that it was time for Eli to retire.”

Zayn walked over slowly to Eli who grinned in response upon seeing Zayn, lips pulling back to display large canines. He reached up a long arm to which Zayn clasped his own fingers around Eli’s palm to rest it upon fuzzy hair on the back of his hand. Eli stood up on two legs and began waddling with Zayn over to a bench, his free arm dragging along the ground beside him.

Harry walked over to Louis and settled himself beside him on the ground as Louis unfolded his legs and placed his hands behind his back on the grass and leant backwards to rest on them. He also raised a knee up, his toes splaying apart to catch grass in between them and pull.

"You have questions don't you?" Louis asked, shaking his head haphazardly to move fringe out of his face.

"Of course I do!" Harry exclaimed. "How is it possible that Eli knows sign language?"

Louis reached a hand up to deal with his uncooperative hair. “Upon discovering that primates were our closest relatives and that humans—or _hominodae_ , evolved from them, primatologists began wondering whether or not it was culture or biology that could allow non-human primates to learn language like communication systems. Since the 60s, there’s been many, unfortunately, controversial experiments performed, where a primate would live for many years with humans and be taught some aspects of their language.

“There’s a lot of famous chimps to come out of this, Washoe the chimp who learned almost two hundred signs where she could actually string together sentences, could identify other animals, and even passed on her knowledge to her adopted infant. Sarah the chimp used plastic pieces as a substitute for words. Lana could use symbols to refer to objects.

“There was Kanzi the bonobo, and Koko the gorilla. Thank god the experiments have mostly stopped today," Louis mumbled, irritation flashed across his features. "Or rather, they’re only conducted to pick up the pieces so to speak,” he continued.

“What do you mean?”

Louis gestured with his chin towards Eli with Zayn at the bench. “Eli for example, already knew a bunch of signs, so we worked to figure out what signs he knew to determine whether or not he was abused. If he recognized the words for certain actions, or pain inducing objects, then we were able to better determine the proper rehabilitation program for him. Since he was raised in captivity, there was the question about whether or not he was ever around other chimps. So assimilating him into a chimpanzee social group took more time.

“Also, we don’t start from the beginning to teach a chimp signs anymore, we only do it if they’ve already been exposed to it, because that is how they’ll communicate with humans, if that’s what they were taught.”

"So this is the great language debate then?" Harry looked to Zayn, who had walked back over with Eli, for confirmation.

Zayn nodded. "Yes. It's all part of the fact that humans descended from primates and they are our closest living relative. It only makes sense that they have some capability to understanding human language. Even if our brains are a tad bit more evolved than theirs." Zayn grinned wryly just as Eli reached out to snag his fingers in a hole in Zayn's sweater.

Zayn laughed, "You totally understood that didn't you?” Eli’s answer was to bound off in the opposite direction towards the tire swing.

Harry thought about the comment about Eli's captivity and the unlikelihood of him interacting much with others of his species. “So how is he doing in this social group then?” He shifted his legs and raised them up to rest his forearms on his knees and clasp his hands.

Louis sighed, “He's doing alright. Better than expected. We’ve noticed that he doesn’t like to be alone though.” His eyes flickered up to Harry’s.

He darted his gaze downwards, swallowing thickly at the realness of the statement. Harry could relate to that so much.

_They had been in the Arctic for about a week exploring the Northwest passage when David and Claire broke the news to him._

_(About the baby). (About them deciding to quit_ National Geographic _for a while). (About them leaving Harry)._

_Harry always thought it was lucky to have your partner be in the same field as you, especially one that had so much traveling involved. There was no guilt for leaving your partner behind, or having to go long periods of time without seeing one another. Working together eliminated all of these kinds of problems that so many other couples faced._

_But what Harry hadn't realized was that there was no room in a couple for a third wheel, for someone like him. He should have known that their time together was going to come to an end. He guessed that he had taken their good situation for granted. He hadn't ever sat down to think about the future. He’d always just lived in the moment, trying not to plan out things, or stress about things that hadn't happened yet._

_He heard the rustling of a coat, a sudden warm voice in his ear, “Harry. You’re pouting.” Claire sat down beside him on the bench._

_“‘M not,” he muttered, refusing to meet her gaze._

_“Harry.” Her voice was sterner than before, he turned his head to gaze at her, noticing that she was chewing on her chapped lips. Harry automatically lifted a hand up to draw her lip from out underneath of her teeth. She let him willingly, linking her arm through his._

_"You didn't really think this would last forever did you?"_

_"That's the problem I guess. I didn't think. I've never actually considered the possibility of you and David not working for National."_

_"It'll only be temporary," Claire insisted._

_But Harry knew, he didn't want to be drawn in on a false hope. They could say now that they’d come back to work with him and be the Three Amigos once again, but Harry knew that such a big, life changing event had a way of changing perspectives, and that life happened. It got in the way of the things that you wanted._

_He wasn't even upset at the fact that they had hidden the pregnancy from Harry for three months. He understood why. He knew that they knew he would take it badly. He was only upset at the fact that they had waited until they were on the expedition to tell him that this would be their last one together. He felt guilty now of not taking advantage of their close quarters to spend more time with them, instead he had been semi avoiding them only because he hadn't initially understood why they had been acting strangely._

_Harry heaved a sigh and decided to mend the bridge._

_"Do you have a name picked out?"_

_Claire smiled, her eyes transforming into pure happiness. "Laurel for a girl, and Bryden for a boy."_

_Harry's dimple popped as he grinned. "I love it. I'm gonna be the best uncle."_

_"Of course you are, Uncle Haz." Claire rested her head upon his shoulders and sniffled. He suspected that she was relieved upon finally having the courage to tell him about the baby, and for him to be mostly accepting. He was happy of course, God, of course he was. There was almost nothing more he loved than babies. Especially one to be created from some of his favourite people on the entire planet._

_As he sat in contemplation, he tried not to feel sorry for himself. Harry just needed to accept that sudden changes to something that had been consistent in your life for so long were always difficult to overcome. But as time passed, so to would the ache that filled your heart._

_A sudden commotion at the back of the boat evaporated all moroseness from his mind as someone began ecstatically shouting, “We found it!”_

_As they stood up to run to the back, and as he watched Claire's hair bounce in the wind, Harry knew that things were going to change drastically for him._

He was drawn out of his musings by a kick to his foot and a questioning voice, “Where were you just now?”

Harry glanced up to Louis. “The Canadian Arctic,” Harry admitted.

“I didn’t think there was actually anything there.”

“There isn’t,” Harry admitted. “Well, not really. This was under the ice.”

Louis’ eyebrows raised. “Really?” He scratched at his nose absentmindedly and shuffled slightly closer towards Harry. "Tell me about it.”

So he did.

He didn’t mention the scene that was just played in his mind, or rather, he didn’t tell Louis about the revelation and his subsequent descent into misery. He instead told him about how Sir John Franklin’s ships were lost in 1845, and that archaeologists had been searching for them for over 170 years. How he was there for the exact moment when they found the location of one the ships, and how the lead archaeologist had cried.

He mentioned the stark difference in the temperatures between here and there, how he now thinks he much prefers the extreme heat over the extreme cold. He talked about using underwater radiography to track the exact location of one of the ships, and the extremely small piece of evidence that lead the team to the discovery.

While he talked about writing the article for the expedition, Eli wandered back over to the group. Once he made sure Eli was okay, Zayn turned to walk back inside the building.

Eli initially had landed in front of Louis, but he turned his attention to Harry and climbed up into his lap, poking and prodding at his face and hair. Louis laughed delightedly at the look on Harry's face. Harry felt his chest constrict at the sound.

His lips turned upwards in amusement, thinking to himself about the sheer happiness that the primate was generating amongst the two of them. That there were far worse things in life than losing your working partners.

How a small chimpanzee who was in a bad place, but was now showing almost no signs of initial abuse, instead just simply craving the presence of others. Eli’s feelings weren’t all that different from how most humans felt. Perhaps especially Harry.

With the easiness of the past couple of days, and the comfortability of the people working here at the Sanctuary Islands and their willingness to tell him all about the primates, Harry came to the conclusion that he felt more at home here than any of the other jobs he’d worked since Claire and David left. He wondered if that maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t as alone as he initially thought he was.


	2. Chapter 2

Liam wondered if he could just jump off the boat onto the dock without Patrick even slowing down. If he just swung by the dock with a quick turn, Liam could be standing with one foot on the floor of the boat, the other on the bench. Then he would lift the foot off the floor and onto the edge of the boat, kicking off his other foot to propel him into the motion.

 _Yeah_ , he thought to himself. _He could do it._

 _He played out the scene in his head like a movie: Water splashed up at the sudden turn of the boat, and Liam made his leap, clearing five feet into the air, a_ whoop _of excitement leaving his mouth as he landed with a solid thud onto the dock, then rolling into a somersault—_

His musings were abruptly cut off when the edge of the boat thunked into the wood and he was jolted by the force of it.

“Easy Patrick! Niall will have your head if you break any more boats!” He gave the man a withering glance as he hoisted himself up onto the dock without any aid from the wooden posts for leverage.

“Sorry sir!” Patrick shouted at him, not sounding sorry in the slightest, and gliding away through the smooth water. 

Liam mumbled nonsensically under his breath, trotting up the dock and towards the building.

He found Zayn sitting in the room adjacent to the windows facing the enclosure. He spotted Louis and the photographer sitting down on the grass, a chimpanzee crawling onto Harry’s lap.

Liam was unsure of which chimp it was, not familiar enough with their individual features to tell them apart from this far away. They all looked alike, except for some with distinct size differences.

Liam drew his attention back to the man inside sitting at the desk in the middle of the room, lost in thought. Zayn’s hair was pushed back with a black head band and tied off in a small ponytail. He shook off his lab coat and pushed the sleeves of his thin shirt up as he sat hunched over the desk.

Liam walked over towards Zayn, who hadn’t seen or heard him approach yet.

He leaned down to whisper in his ear, “Hey, what do you think of the new guy?”

Zayn startled, dropping the pencil in his hand, his ponytail brushing against Liam’s cheek and the scratchiness of his shirt brushed against Liam’s forearm when he swivelled around in his chair to face him.

“Oh you’re back,” he said plainly.

“Yeah got back the day before yesterday.”

“Two days ago, why didn’t you come by?” Irritation laced through his voice.

Liam’s first instinct had been to come visit Zayn, but his duty had been to report back to Louis and Niall that the group had moved, plus he had to go into Pointe-Noire with Patrick yesterday afternoon. So.

He figured Zayn would just become more agitated so instead he said, “I’m here now. So? The new guy?”

“Harry? I met him at games night, but we’ve only really spoken this morning. Seems like a decent guy, he’s pretty interested in learning about the chimps.”

Liam’s interest piqued. “How interested? Not too much is he?”

Zayn rolled his eyes. “Not like that. Interested, as in from an educational standpoint.” Zayn folded his arms. “Niall mentioned that he’s got sort of an anthropological background, taking some classes in his schooling, he looked Harry up. I don’t think we need to worry.”

Liam came closer to lean up against the table beside Zayn, his leg brushed against his. “So you don’t have a dislike for him at all? No gut feeling telling you something?”

Liam watched Zayn rub at his scruff with a thoughtful look on his face. Zayn ceased the motions when he noticed Liam looking, a slight flush rose to his cheeks and asked, “Why? Do you?”

Liam took a moment to think. “I mean, no, not really? But I’m wary of everyone new that I meet now.”

“Yes I know. You gave poor Patrick a hard time when he first started, but look at him, the man’s as innocent as a fruit fly. I mean, he’s a little crazy, but he wouldn’t harm a living being.”

Liam scratched the side of his head. “Yeah, yeah, I know that.”

“So then what's the problem with Harry?”

“I think he’s a little interested in Louis.”

Zayn’s face remained impassive. “Didn’t you only just meet him?”

“Yeah but like, Niall said he’s already sending off the vibe.”

“So what? Louis’ never going to let him in anyways.”

“Shouldn’t we at least keep an eye on him?” Liam questioned.

“I think Louis’ a big boy and can handle himself.”

Liam hummed, “Alright.”

He leaned forward to pluck a piece of grass off Zayn’s chest.

 Zayn leaned backwards from Liam’s hand, putting distance between them and taking with him the heat of his leg from Liam’s.

Liam frowned at Zayn’s jitteriness, coming back into Zayn’s space and placing a hand on his shoulder. “What’s the matter with you?”

Zayn quickly stood up and walked over to the other side of the room, his back turned to Liam’s as he puttered around with loose papers on the desk. “N—nothing.”

Liam decided to let it go. “Did Louis tell you the news? That the group moved?”

“Yes,” Zayn said, his tone clipped.

The light bulb went off in his head, so he questioned incredulously at the tone change, “You’re not _still_ mad at me, are you?”

Zayn’s eyes flashed with something. “You mean about the fact that you’re still out there trying to track down a group of illegal hunters?” Zayn spread his arms out in an angry gesture. “Since this whole thing started, you’ve broken your arm, and you’ve come back with multiple bruises. Why wouldn't that make me mad?”

“Zayn.” He walked towards the angry man. “That was months ago, how many times are we going to go through this? I tripped over a bloody branch. Are we going to have this conversation every time I go out there?”

“Probably.”

Liam sighed. ”You make me feel like we’re a bloody married couple,” he mumbled under his breath.

Zayn must have heard him, for he blanched before stuttering out, “I—I should go check on—on the chimps outside, make sure they’re behaving properly.” He hurried away to the door, snagging a bottle out of the mini fridge by the door on his way out.

Liam frowned, following him out into the enclosure. “Zayn wait, I know you’ve never liked the idea of keeping tabs on the hunter group, but it’s the only way to keep an eye on them so they don’t track down the chimps out there.”

Zayn slowed down his stride. “They are _dangerous_ , practicing an _illegal_ operation, which means they’ll do _illegal_ things to achieve what they want. You saw what bloody Chris did here at the facility, just to track them down. You truly have no idea what they’re capable of. None of us do.”

Liam reached up to him, placing a hand upon his shoulder and turning him around to face him, and reassured, “I’ll be careful alright? Don’t worry, I’m not that easy to get rid of. You’re going to be stuck with me hanging around for a long time.” He grinned easily at him.

Zayn pursed his lips. “That’s what I’m afraid of,” he said sarcastically, shoving him gently.

Liam’s mouth popped open, “Hey! I’m the best friend you have here, you can’t say that!”

“Oii!” Louis voice startled the two men. “If anyone around here is claiming the title as Zayn’s best friend, that’ll be me!”

Liam looked over to see Louis and Harry were still sat in the grass, the chimp in Harry’s lap was Eli, Liam believed. Louis was Eli’s favourite, so it was a good guess. Eli was plucking at Harry’s hair, musing it up with his long, nimble fingers.

“He might be _yours_ , but I’m _his_ ,” Liam teased. “We’ve got a bromance. Whereas he’s just learned to be stuck with you.”

“A _bromance._ ” Louis looked smug, opening his mouth to continue, but a cough from Zayn shut him up.

Liam glanced to Zayn inquisitively, and Eli took advantage of the moment by opening his mouth to coo directly into Harry’s ear, eliciting a startled jump.

Louis laughed, “I think Eli’s saying that he wants to be someone’s best friend.”

Harry perked up. “How about me? He’s grooming me, that’s a sign of affection right?”

“He grooms everyone Harry.”

Harry deflated. “Oh, so I’m not special then.”

“Sure you are, _very_ special.” Louis looped his index finger in a circle besides his temple.

“Hey now, that can be considered politically incorrect.” Zayn crossed his arms.

Louis rolled his eyes. “Alrighty, sorry Mr. Politically correct. Here, teach Eli Harry’s name.”

"Hold on, Harry needs to uphold his end of the agreement we had from losing the bet. He can give Eli his medicine."

Zayn kneeled down beside Harry, touching Eli’s back softly and running his fingers through the black hair. Eli turned towards Zayn, extending a long arm around his shoulders and allowing himself to be transferred from his perch on Harry’s back, to around Zayn’s torso.

Zayn handed the bottle over to Harry, who accepted it and held it up to the chimps mouth. Eli fussed over it, turning his head away from the offending object. Zayn held Eli tighter, cooing softly in his ear in an attempt to relax the small chimp. It worked, and Harry thrusted the nipple forward and tilted the bottle backwards. Eli finally accepted it, a glare emanating from his eyes in Harry's direction.

Liam snickered softly to himself, glad he wasn't about to become on Eli's hypothetical hit list.

Once the bottle was finished, Zayn let Eli go and Harry placed the bottle behind him on the grass. Zayn leaned forward to capture Eli's attention again just as Liam settled himself down on the ground beside Louis and Zayn. He completed the circle, content to relax and watch the exchange for a minute.

The first thing he noticed was Zayn’s inherent gentleness. He didn’t always showcase it, but it appeared inevitably whenever he interacted with animals. Liam always enjoyed watching Zayn work.

Whenever Liam returned from his trips out into the forest, more often than not he could be found on Bebe Island on his down time playing with the chimps that are being rehabilitated. The routine usually consisted of Zayn working one-on-one with an individual chimp, and then when that chimp was done for the day, they were handed over to Liam who gave them a treat and played with them.

A noise from Eli brought his attention back and he looked up to see that Zayn captured Eli’s attention fully and was signing out Harry’s name. Liam heard Zayn say each letter out loud before he signed it with the free hand not holding onto Eli. He repeated the name a few times and pointed over to Harry’s chest after spelling the name out each time to indicate ownership.

For as long as Liam’s known Zayn, he’d noticed that Zayn had a methodological approach to his work ethic. He always focused one hundred percent of his attention to the task at hand, blocking out distractions, and remaining patient with his subject if they were struggling.

It took a few moments for Eli to fully process the word, but after a couple of tries, it was like the lightbulb went off, and Eli bobbed his head excitedly. He then made a motion with his two fingers, before raising an arm up high and scratching at his armpit. Only, he didn’t actually scratch, but instead imitated the motion.

Zayn and Louis suddenly burst out laughing, causing Eli to chatter excitedly in reaction. Both Liam and Harry said, ‘what,’ but were ignored in favour of continuing to laugh.

Zayn grinned widely, his tongue visible behind teeth, his head bobbing in laughter with squished eyes. Liam felt the corners of his cheeks lift involuntarily, despite not being in on the joke.

Eli started wiggling in Zayn’s lap, moving himself off of his chest and onto the ground in the middle of the circle of men.

“No, no, Eli.” Zayn ran his hands down both of Eli’s arms in an attempt to regain his attention. He was still giggling though, so Eli wasn’t paying attention, instead spurned on by the laughter, and repeating the gesture he had just made.

Zayn signed Harry’s name again in front of Eli and pointed at Harry’s chest, saying his name out loud, but Eli was having none of it and just repeated the same gesture and pointed at Harry.

“I feel like I’m being offended.” Harry looked at Louis. “What's he signing?”

Louis tried to speak through his laughter, “He’s calling you ‘hairy armpits.’" His giggle transitioned to a full blown belly laugh. Zayn, and now Liam in understanding, joined in.

Harry squawked indignantly, _‘hey!’_ so Zayn took pity on him and explained, “Your name is also a word, so Eli must have made the connection, because obviously it sounds similar to ‘ _hairy,’_ As in the adjective, when I was saying your name out loud. He knows the expression ‘hairy armpits,’ don’t ask me how, I really don’t know, so he’s drawing his own conclusions.”

“I don’t have hairy armpits! Well, they’re not _overly_ hairy, a decent amount I would say,” Harry babbled, raising his hands to his armpits defensively and looking affronted at the development. Liam just laughed again delightedly.

Eli, egged on by the sound of the laughter, bounded around in the circle excitedly, crashing into Louis, who hoisted him up underneath his arms and hugged him to his chest. Eli went lax in his arms, snuffling at Louis’ hair.

Liam looked to Harry to see fondness radiating from him and watched him raise his camera up to capture the moment.

A second later and Liam’s suddenly faced with the lens of the camera.

“Liam, Zayn, smile.”

Liam shuffled closer to Zayn and raised his arm to place around Zayn’s shoulders to bring him in for a picture. He didn’t immediately place his arm down, but stared intently at him, awaiting permission.

Zayn stared back, and his tense shoulders finally dropped down, relaxing and giving him a slight nod, and a timid smile, the earlier argument finally forgiven. Zayn didn’t usually stay mad at him for long.

And _yeah_ , he looked forward, smiling at the camera, he knew that he was Zayn’s best friend.

Harry spent his next few days at the facility trying to devote an equal amount of time between the two islands. He had begun to gain a reputation with the chimps on Tchindzoulou, as some of them had taken to following him around like lost puppies. It could have been due to the fact that he always came bearing gifts of fruit which he had stolen from the kitchen in an attempt to get into their good graces. Renee scolded him each time for it with a scary flap of her wooden spoon, but her fondness for him had developed early, so Harry dodged the swipe of the utensil with a cheeky grin, and got away with it each time.

Harry had discovered that the feeding frenzy he had participated in with Louis earlier in the week was not the norm, but rather a special occasion where the chimps were given all the food as a weekly treat. The island itself had a number of assorted fruit bushes and edible leaves scattered all over that the chimps could choose to eat from on their own. Harry spent a lot of time wandering through the brush, following the caretakers who more often than not walked along with the chimps.

His observation earlier in the week about the chimpanzees need to touch one another was extremely consistent in their daily activities. There almost wasn’t a single moment where two or more of them weren’t touching one another. Whether it be from gentle drags of fingertips across the shoulders, participating in grooming sessions, or roughhousing antics which included catching one another by surprise with a leap onto their back to wrestle them to the ground; the chimpanzees were overly tactile.

They also often shared their food with one another, seeking out fruit bushes in pairs and splitting their finds. Harry watched as they broke the fruit apart with nimble fingers and plopped the sweetness into their mouths messily, handing over the other half to the chimpanzee eagerly waiting beside them.

Harry sometimes found himself on the receiving end of these gestures. The chimps welcomed him into their social group easily once they realized he was visiting them almost daily. They treated Harry and the caretakers as if they were one and the same species, which he supposed, wasn’t entirely wrong, seeing as Harry learned that humans and chimps share approximately ninety-eight percent of the same DNA.

The love the caretakers had for the chimpanzees shone through in all of their actions. The chimps were reckless at times, and therefore more prone to inflicting injuries upon themselves. The caretakers took care of them diligently, plucking out every thorn and thistle jutting out from the pads of their feet and hands. The victim would be seated at the table, pouting and holding its limp wrist outwards with fingers curled protectively, but nonetheless allowing the caretaker to pluck out the offending object with a pair of tweezers before tenderly wrapping it up with a bandage.

His mornings before visiting the islands were spent sitting with Niall at the front desk choosing the best photographs for the new website. Lynn had reamed Niall out for bringing Harry into it, but begrudgingly agreed that Harry’s idea was ‘ _quite good’_ and allowed him to stay on board with the project.

Niall often bugged Harry about the facility’s budget constraints. He had tried convincing Harry that adding a gym room to the main building would be a good investment for everyone there. (Lynn had already said no to this of course, so naturally Niall had turned to Harry for help).

Harry had soothingly told Niall that the with the third island being under construction, now was perhaps not quite the best time to bring up the idea of an indoor fitness room. He instead suggested organizing some outdoor sports activities to get their little community involved in physical activity and group bonding. Niall had perked up especially when Harry said that they could probably keep it well under budget too.

However, despite all these wonderful activities, Harry tended to find himself more often than not visiting Bebe Island. He seemed to be drawn to its occupants more than anywhere else.

He had noticed that Liam’s availability was sporadic at times, but he never failed to appear on Bebe Island to hang around Zayn, often caught staring fondly at Zayn while he worked with various chimps. During one of these incidents, Harry recalled how he had tried to question Liam a bit, inquiring about the nature of his and Zayn’s friendship.

“So. You and Zayn?” he’d asked, speaking in a low tone to prevent Zayn, who was nearby, from overhearing anything. He’d purposely worded the question so it sounded like he was asking if they were together, wanting to see Liam’s reaction.

Liam’s cheeks had flushed, and he glanced down at the puzzle pieces he neglected to move around for Joe during his stare down at Zayn.

“What?” he’d inquired. Elsie was sat just to the left of Liam, a weary eye on her infant.

“You and Zayn. How long have you guys known each other?” He’d changed the wording up.

Liam relaxed slightly. “Ohh a while now. Two years? We worked with Louis at Tchimpounga, and then when Louis orchestrated the opening of the islands with Jane Goodall, we all transferred here together. Niall didn’t previously work at Tchimpounga though, he was hired specifically for the Sanctuary Islands.”

“Louis knows Jane Goodall personally?”

“We’ve all met her. She comes around every now and then, but Louis apparently knew Jane Goodall before he even came to Tchimpounga, that’s how he got Zayn and himself jobs. Then he came up with the idea of the Sanctuary Islands, which Jane loved. I get the feeling she regards him very fondly.”

Harry had been floored at the time he learned this information, he had no idea that Louis provided the initial idea of the islands. He’d looked over to the window to where Louis was inside, wearing a pair of glasses and pointing to something on the monitor.

He’d turned back at Liam. “Do you have a partner, Liam?”

Liam looked up at him briefly. “Err, no. Haven't really got the time for a love life do I?” He smiled wryly. “Plus there’s not too much of an opportunity here to meet anyone new. I don’t really need to go looking, I’m pretty content with things right now.” He bobbed his head in a nod.

“Sometimes we don’t realize that the things right in front of us are the reasons for our happiness,” Harry murmured.

His statement of course, along with the apparent obviousness to everyone else of Zayn’s feelings except for him, had gone right over Liam’s head too.

Harry’s thoughts wandered to Zayn, who was possibly the most easily excitable person he had ever met. The moment you told him you wanted to learn something that he was passionate about, he would become encompassed in explaining every detail about that particular subject.

Harry was also endeared by the way Zayn would clamp up each time Louis tried to tease him about Liam. Zayn was a shit disturber in his own right however, attacking Louis periodically throughout the day with small pranks, and sneakily leaving the tasks no one wanted to do, just for him.

Harry however, one night as he lay wide awake in his room, pinpointed the exact reason for why he enjoyed spending time on Bebe Island, or rather the _whom_ he enjoyed spending time _with_ , on the island.

During the time he spent with Louis, he’d noticed that Louis was often physically affectionate with those around him. Whether it be a playful shove to an arm, or a gentle squeeze, Louis was fiercely protective of the chimpanzees and humans that he loved.

At times though he seemed apprehensive of Harry, watching him with a close eye while Harry interacted with the chimps. They would have a completely normal conversation, even with slight flirting, but then Louis would withdraw into himself, make an excuse and go work on something else. Seemingly wanting to be anywhere but near Harry. It was giving him a bit of whiplash.

However, Louis still welcomed him onto Bebe Island and never treated him as a stranger. The kindheartedness of his personality was something not often found these days, and it seemed the other caretakers and employees on the island all had a soft spot for Louis. One mention of his name, and your conversation partner would light up and tell you a story of how Louis (and Zayn), had rescued a certain chimpanzee.

Harry tried to shake himself out of his thoughts, his mind was filled to the brim with replaying over every interaction with the man. He couldn’t seem to get him out of his head.

He continued walking up the path to the building, the familiarity of the island helping him during his current spaciness, as his body easily went through the motions of swiping his pass and immediately knowing when to lean against the door just before it would _ding_ so he could push through.

He knocked on the door and Louis let him in with barely a glance as he continued eating a sandwich. It was well past noon, Harry noted, as he had already been over on Tchindzouolou today and was coming in later than usual due to a clingy chimpanzee refusing to let go of his leg.

He plopped down on the chair and swirled around, declaring, “Teach me something Louis.”

“What?” he mumbled around the bread. “I don’t have time for this.”

“You are literally just doing nothing except eating,” Harry remarked.

Louis glowered, but it had no effect due to the puffiness of his cheeks making him resemble a chipmunk.

He swallowed the last bite and brushed off his hands haphazardly. “Fine. We’ll do something…taxing.” His eyes twinkled mischievously.

“Carolus Linnaeus. Better known as the Father of…Taxonomy.” Harry tried not to smile in understanding at the pun.

Louis continued, “Linnaeus created the taxonomic classification system for all species, and today you’re going to learn it for the primate species. Or some of it. We’ll go down to chimpanzees and humans.”

He walked over to the whiteboard and picked up a marker, uncapping it and writing down a series of words along the left hand side.

_Order_

_Suborder_

_Infraorder_

_Superfamily_

_Family_

_Subfamily_

_Genus_

_Species_

“The last two, ‘genus’ and ‘species’”—He tapped the two words with the butt of the marker—“are where the scientific name for each species in the entire world derives from. As in _homo sapiens_ , _homo_ being the ‘genus’, and _sapiens_ being the ‘species.’”

“Hey Louis?”

“Yeah?” Louis turned away from the board to face him.

“‘I got a science question for ya.” He paused then added, “If the _homo sapiens_ , were in fact, _homo sapiens_ , is that why they’re extinct?’” Harry quipped.

Louis’ face went into shock and he dropped the marker. He finally let out a giggle and bent over to retrieve the object.

“‘Well Harry… _homo sapiens_ are people,’” he added.

Harry widened his eyes and shook his head, playing along, “‘Hey hey, I’m not judging.” He flicked his hand out towards Louis and attempted to keep his face straight, but he made eye contact with Louis at the last second and they both burst out laughing.

“I can’t believe you just quoted Joey Tribbiani to me.”

“Hey, _Friends_ is quite possibly the greatest sitcom ever.”

“”M not disagreeing with that!” Louis flicked the cap of the marker at him. Harry picked up and threw it right back at him.

“You’re not paying attention, pay attention.”

“Okay, okay, sorry.” He moved his hands in a _go ahead_ motion.

Louis’ gaze flickered over towards Harry before he continued, “So, then you have Primates up at the top as the overarching ‘order’, and it begins to flow down through all of the divisions. I’ll only go really in depth with the chimpanzees and humans, but note that the other divisions can expand all the way to the bottom too.”

Louis began writing words that looked liked gibberish beside each category on the left. He drew boxes around the words, and connected them all with lines as they filtered through to the last category at the bottom of the board. The process took him a few minutes, and Louis hummed to himself, ignoring Harry completely for the time being.

“There.” He squared off something off near bottom of the board and stepped away from it to reveal a grande schematic.

 

Harry’s eyes roved over the map, beginning with primates at the top, and following the thicker red line down the right hand side to the bottom with _homo sapiens._

Louis stood off to the side of the board like a professor: with a wide stance and a billowing lab coat to command Harry’s attention. He swallowed thickly in an attempt to remove the haziness from his eyes to try and pay attention to the words Louis was saying.

“Primates are initially divided into two suborders: strepsirhini, and haplorhini. The former meaning wet noses, which lemurs, tarsiers, galagos, and lorises all have. Then they can be broken down further into their scientific names, but I didn’t bother writing it out.” Louis waved a hand at the left side of the board, where the three aforementioned names stopped beside ‘infraorder.’

“Haplorhini means the opposite, dry nose.” Louis tapped the tip of his nose and wiggled it briefly. “Which is then divided down into two different ‘infraorders’: platyrrhini and catarrhini. Platyrrhines have broad nasal septums, and nostrils that flare to the side, while catarrhines noses are narrow and close together.”

“Platyrrhini is also known as all of the New World Monkeys, which geographically, are located in Central and South America, as well as Mexico. Catarrhines consist of the Old World Monkeys, apes, and humans.”

Louis drew his finger across the board underneath Catarrhini, which split further into two categories beside ‘superfamily.’

“We’ve now got it split into two categories, the Old Word Monkeys, or, also known as Cercopithecoidea, which goes further down, and the second category is Hominoidea. Hominoidea splits into three: hylobatidea, pongidea, and hominidae. My chimpanzees fall underneath pongidea, with the ‘genus’ and ‘species’ as: _pan troglodytes_.” Louis had drawn a black square around the chimpanzees. “Also known as the common chimp.”

He pointed to the right of the square where the red line finally ended. “And then under hominidae you have _homo sapiens_.”

Louis looked back at Harry and nodded his head in satisfaction. “Good?” He clapped his hands. “Okay, there’s a quiz tomorrow, I want you to be able to duplicate this chart on the board.”

Harry sputtered out a laugh, “I’ll never be able to memorize this all tonight!”

Louis threw a leg to sit backwards on the swivel chair, resting his arms on the back of it, his lips quirked upwards. “Zayn and I used to time ourselves and write it out over and over again on blank pieces of paper, and whoever finished first, and with the least amount of errors, got to dare the other to do something ridiculous.”

Harry smiled at the thought of the two men leaning over a table and scrambling to write everything down as quickly as possible. He could imagine a younger version of Louis shoving Zayn’s elbows to mark up his paper.

“I used to sing ‘The Bad Touch’ by Bloodhound Gang in his ear to distract him.” Louis widened his eyes for emphasis. “ _Extremely_ loudly,” he added.

Harry squeezed his eyes shut tightly in a laugh. He quickly blinked them open again and dramatically popped his mouth open, “‘So let’s do it, like they do on Discovery Channel.’” He jutted his head back and forth in motion and brought one hand in front of him, the other behind his back to do the ‘Z’ motion.

Louis laughed, “Yes! Though, I may have sang it more like, directly in his ear with a sultry voice.” He brought a hand up to cup around his mouth. “Like, ‘ _sweat baby, sweat baby, sex…_ ’” His voice had pitched low in his throat, gravelly with a touch of raspiness. His eyes slid half shut in a dangerously erotic move, looking at Harry from underneath his lashes, as his eyes exaggeratedly rolled back into his head and his lids slipped shut.

Harry wasn’t sure if it was specifically meant for him or not, but his stomach swooped at the look and the accompanied sound. “Ohh, did you and Zayn?…”

A laugh burst out of him, “Oh god no, it just always pissed him off because I tried to make it sound like sex noises.” Louis laughed it off, but Harry was trying not to react and associate the tone he just heard with other kinds of similar noises.

He cleared his throat and looked out of the window towards the two men standing by the table. Liam was pouring liquid out of a jug into a bottle in his hand. His tongue poked out in concentration as he held the bottle at eye level. Harry watched as Zayn placed a hand gently upon Liam’s, guiding him in pouring the the correct amount of milk in the bottle.

“Liam knows how to do it,” Louis murmured.

“What?” Harry turned his head slightly to see that Louis was now watching the exchange as well.

Louis gestured his with chin, his arms were folded across his chest, a fist clenching his shirt in a grip. ”Liam knows the exact amount of food he should be leaving out for each chimp.” He pointed at the table beside the two men where the tops of each bottle were laid out. “They’re all labelled with their names, and he knows the increments of milk for each week. They get put on special dietary programs right, because when they initially come here, some are malnourished, so we have to ease them slowly back up to health. We’ve been doing this for a while now, yet he continues to have Zayn help him.”

Harry smiled. “Leave him be, he clearly just wants to be around Zayn.”

“I’ve watched them for three years Harry, and he still doesn’t understand his own feelings.”

Harry frowned. “Well maybe he needs a push then. Have Zayn make a move.”

“Don’t you think I’ve tried that?” Louis muttered. “I cannot with these two.”

“You’re going to have to let nature take its own course then.”

“Really? Did you really say a quote about nature to me?”

Harry bumped his shoulder against Louis’. “You don’t own everything to do with nature.” He sniffed indignantly. “Besides, if it’s meant to be, it’ll happen.”

Louis rolled his eyes and pinched his bicep which elicited a yelp from Harry before sauntering out the door and into the field. Eli immediately left Zayn and Liam to bound over to Louis, and he stopped walking to scoop Eli up into his arms. Harry followed him out the door.

“Are you done teaching me about chimpanzees for the day?” Harry asked.

“Hmmm…” He considered. “Okay, if I teach you some characteristics of chimpanzees, you have to act them out.” Louis cocked an eyebrow upwards.

“…Act them out, like a chimpanzee?” Harry clarified.

“That’s correct.” Louis nodded.

“Why can’t you just tell me?”

Eli began shifting impatiently in Louis’ arms, but Louis wasn’t even fazed by the squirming, he simply readjusted his grip to allow Eli to climb onto his back.

“Harry, if everyone was just given things in life for free, how would anyone learn the value of hard earned work?”

Harry rolled his eyes. “I’m not bettering myself or society by learning the characteristics of chimpanzees. I’m simply doing research for my article.”

“ _Which_ , is to bring awareness to society about chimpanzees.”

“Not about their physicalities or habits, but their endangerment and vulnerability.”

“Then why do you need to learn their traits?” Louis looked smug, and Eli screeched out in Harry’s general direction over Louis’ head. The pair were unbeatable and Harry pouted.

“Fine.”

Louis rubbed his hands. “Excellent.”

“I can’t believe you’re making me do this.”

Louis ignored him. “ _Alright_ , fact number one about the common chimp.” Louis bent over forwards to allow Eli to leap gracefully over his head and onto the grass. Eli stood up and waddled over to Harry, who stretched his hands out to welcome him into his arms.

“Chimpanzees are primarily located in Africa.” Louis walked over to the cluster of trees at the far end of the yard. Harry and Eli trailed after him holding hands, looking every bit like lost beings as Eli practically pulled Harry along in an effort to stick close to his favourite human. He was reluctant to let go of Harry though, so Harry quickened his steps to avoid having a disgruntled chimp on his hands.  

“There are several subspecies of chimpanzees, some of which have gone extinct today.” Louis began rattling off a series of facts. “They are both arboreal, and terrestrial.” Once Louis reached a rather large tree, he caught Eli’s attention by patting the trunk of it and signed while saying out loud, “Climb up.”

Eli let go of Harry’s hand and effortlessly swung up into the tree with his long limbs. A couple of leaves fell down in his motions and fluttered softly towards the ground.

“Chimpanzees are evolutionary because they have opposable thumbs like humans.” Louis gave Harry two thumbs up and wiggled them around.

“They have long curved fingers which help them grip branches more firmly if they’re brachiating, which some young chimpanzees will sometimes do. It’s called arboreal locomotion.”

Louis suddenly swung his arms in a windmill movement, promptly Harry to follow. “Where they swing from tree to tree using only their arms, which can move in three hundred and sixty degrees. They’re capable of this movement due to the positioning of the scapula on the back. Humans have it too.”

Harry wiggled his own long fingers at Louis and reached up to curve them around the nearby branch of the tree, the bark rough against his palm. He pretended to swing from branch to branch, walking in a circle around the tree.

He looked up through the denseness of the branches and leaves, contemplating the thickness of the branch and its capability of sustaining his weight. He shook it harshly, testing its strength, and placed a foot against the trunk of the tree to pull himself up. He heaved upwards and thrusted one leg over the branch, using his upper arm strength to pull himself up.

Eli came down from his perch way up high and sniffed at Harry’s hand curled around the branch. His inquisitive eyes peered down at Harry as if to say, _human, what are you doing?_

Harry puffed a breath out, his hair blowing up and out of his line of sight. He heard a muffled giggle from somewhere behind as he scrambled for purchase against the trunk, looping an arm around it like a koala bear. His legs were spread out on either side of the branch, and he shifted slightly, the rugged edges of the bark digging into his bum, and he brought a hand down to adjust himself, huffing out a breath of exertion.

Louis full out laughed this time, and Harry turned towards him. “You think this is funny? _Hey!_ What are you doing, are you filming?”

The large phone in Louis’ hand had the eye of the camera directed upwards at him and Harry squawked, turning away to hide his face. “Tell him to stop filming me,” he told the curious chimp who simply tilted his head and pursed his lips in a kiss.

“I just had to capture your climbing abilities, you’re so graceful.”

Harry glared at him. “Anything else for me to do while I’m up here?” He tilted his head upwards to look through the branches, there wasn’t anything else in the tree save for leaves swaying in the gentle breeze. Eli had left Harry’s branch and was weaving higher up to the top of tree. He walked easily along the the length of the branches without holding onto anything.

“Chimpanzees are also knuckle walkers.”

Harry blinked down at Louis. “Yes…I do believe I’ve seen them walk on their knuckles at some point,” he drawled with a tilt to his lips.

Louis raised his eyebrows and blatantly dropped his eyes to the ground and then back up to Harry’s face. Harry pursed his lips. “You’re joking.”

Louis squeezed one eye shut. “Mmmm, nah, not joking.”

Harry sighed and jumped down from the tree into a squat, curling his fingers and resting his knuckles on the prickly grass. It hurt a little bit with the pressure against his rings, but he ignored it and tilted his upper body and began awkwardly leaping towards Louis.

Which was how Zayn found him a second later.

Harry startled at the muttered _‘what the fuck?_ ’ and stood up quickly as he heard Louis laugh. He faced Zayn just as his cheeks bloomed with heat. “Err…I was just, attempting to put myself into the same perspective as the chimps.”

Zayn looked dubiously at him. “…Alright. I’m just going to ignore everything I just saw.”

Harry puffed up his red cheeks with air and nodded.

“Where’d Liam go?” Louis asked.

Zayn tilted his head to the building. “Just washing the bottles out.”

“Oh so you’re using him to do your dirty work. Alright, _anyways_ , more about chimpanzees. They love eating fruits, leaves, insects, eggs, and small mammals,” Louis said.

Harry let out the air in his cheeks and shook his head. “There is no way I’m eating anything other than fruit.” He shook a finger in Louis’ face.

Louis smacked it lightly with his hand. “Yeah I’ve seen you eat enough apples and bananas the past couple of days.”

“Why are you watching him eat bananas?” Zayn mocked.

Louis’ neck flushed. “Have you seen the way he eats them, it’s bloody ridiculous.”

“Hey. I’m right _here_.” Harry sniffed.

“Alright moving along, what else is there? Oh, then there’s a couple of habits that can be considered negative…” Louis trailed off.

“You mean like hunting other primates, infanticide, and cannibalism?” Zayn blandly inputted.

Harry blanched. _“What_?”

Louis nodded just as Zayn said, “S’true.”

Zayn walked over to the base of the tree and tapped it with his fingers to draw Eli’s attention. “Jane Goodall documented hunting behaviour in chimpanzees back in the ‘60s. She was recording chimpanzee’s social behaviour in groups, and noticed that they would band together to hunt down other primate species, particularly the red colobus.”

“An Old World Monkey.” Louis pointed at Harry, “What kind of noses?”

“Erm…dry?” Harry blatantly guessed.

Louis smiled wryly. “Nice guess. Correct.”

Zayn continued, “They surround the tree to prevent the red colobus from escaping, and then kill them. Most of the time the dominant male of the group, or another competing male, would do the killing.”

Louis picked up where Zayn trailed off, “There’s also inter-troop aggression, where males will stealthily attack males of other neighbouring troops in an attempt to acquire territory, food, and other females.

“Infanticide and cannibalism occurs where the dominant female will kill the babies of lower ranking females, or the dominant male will kill or eat the infant of his new female mate, that way she’ll reproduce for him.”

Harry’s upper lip curled upwards in disgust. “That’s barbaric.”

“Is it though?” Louis questioned. “I mean, humans are a pretty nasty species themselves.”

Harry watched as Eli climbed down from the tree and took Zayn’s hand. “I guess we can be. I mean, Eli doesn’t strike me as the type who would kill little Joe?”

“No, I don’t think you need to worry about that because these chimps are different in not only their social structure but also mentally from the ones in the wild,” Louis reassured him.

As if sensing his discomfort, Eli stood up to stretch out and angle his body towards Harry. He reached out a hand towards him, his palm facing upwards in a gesture that looked like a question. _Trust me please?_ He seemed to be asking. Harry’s heart swelled in his chest at the so human like action. He placed his hand delicately on top of Eli’s and trailed his fingers lightly across Eli’s palm in a tickle. Eli’s fingers twitched at the sensation, and then he let his hand drop, turning to look up at Zayn.

Harry stood in stunned silence for a moment and Zayn murmured, “I have to give him his medicine. I’ll be back.”

Harry watched as Zayn led Eli away and he shook himself out of the intense moment. He looked up at Louis who was smiling gently at him. Harry shook himself out a second time and moaned, “My brain hurts from all the knowledge.” He flopped down dramatically onto the grass.

Louis chuckled lightly, “Hey, what, now you don’t like learning so much? You asked for it.”

Harry sat back up and fluffed his hair over his head. “No, no, I _do_. I love it even. It’s so much better learning things outside of a classroom. God, I hated school. Now though, it’s much more enjoyable, I love to learn,” he finished rambling.

Louis cocked his head, a thoughtful look on his face. “Yeah, strangely you seem more into learning about the chimpanzees than how the island operates.”

“Well I dunno.” Harry shrugged his shoulders. “They’re the whole point of the sanctuary islands are they not?”

Louis chewed on his lip and murmured, “Yes, yes they are. And they’re pretty incredible aren’t they?”

Harry nodded, thinking of the interaction just now with Eli. “Yeah, they’re amazing.”

Harry inhaled a deep breath to loosen the knot in his chest. Interacting with the chimpanzees the past few days had opened his eyes to the fact that how people treated those who could do nothing for them, meant everything. The way Eli was, was a direct reflection of how Zayn and Louis had nursed him back to health and restored his faith in humans.

Harry broke the silence by saying, “Let’s learn about something non-work related.” He indicated at the ground beside him with a _pat pat, rub._

Louis folded himself down to the ground and crossed his legs. “This wasn’t a learning experience for me though, I already knew it all.”

Harry made a face. “You know what I mean. _Something not about chimpanzees_. No matter how great they are.”

“But Harry…chimpanzees are my life.” He placed a hand delicately on his chest and looked up at him through his lashes in innocence.

Harry didn’t fall for it. “They’re not every aspect of your life. An important part yes, but where’s your family? Other friends? Significant others? What do you do for fun?”

Louis laughed, “Woah, woah, settle down, yeah?” He held up a hand and began counting down all of the questions with answers.

“My family is back in either Doncaster or London. I have six siblings.” He ignored Harry’s squawk of _‘six!’_. “The eldest two sisters are living in London, the next are the twin girls, they’re in high school, and then there’s the youngest twins, Doris and Ernest, then finally my mother and her husband.”

“Not your biological father then?”

Louis shook his head. “No, none of my siblings are fully my siblings. My dad left when I was young, and then there was Mark, who was there for my childhood and adolescence. Now, it’s Dan. I have a couple of friends back in England, but everyone’s sort of all spread out. I see them around Christmas time.”

Louis looked directly at Harry. “I have no partner right now.” His lips thinned. “My last relationship ended on a bad note.” He paused, then added, “And for fun around here we go and get drunk down in Pointe-Noire. We also play footie with a bunch of the locals, and do various community events.”

Louis shrugged his shoulders. “That’s kind of it. I mean, I watch a lot of online TV on my downtime, or play games with the lads.” He pushed some of his hair off his forehand with a gentle thumb. “What about you then?”

Harry shifted his position and chewed on his bottom lip, pressing against it with a finger. “Well, I mean, I’ve been working the last five years now. I did Uni in London for photojournalism, and my mother and her husband live in Holmes Chapel. My older sister works in London, I’ve a flat there as well, but I’m…honestly, not there all that often. What with traveling all the time on jobs.”

“Where’s your favourite place that you’ve been on a job?”

Harry pursed his lips. “That’s too hard,” he whined.

Louis nudged his knee with his foot. “C’mon, if you had to choose one place to go back to, what would it be?”

He hummed in contemplation. “Well the food in Prague was amazing,” he said, clicking his tongue. “I was there this past year for the six hundredth and fifth anniversary of Prague’s Astronomical Clock Tower. That was pretty neat. The clock itself has four different times, some of which are now incorrect right, because they were from original thinking of how astronomy and time worked. Like the belief that the sun revolved around the earth, which of course we now know is wrong.”

Harry drew a circle with his finger in the air. “The circumference of the clock has a list of names that newborn babies are allowed to have in the Czech Republic.”

“That they _have_ to choose from?” Louis looked aghast.

“Well not anymore.” Harry grinned wryly. “And then above and below the clock are eight statues all together representing the common virtues and vices one finds in most religions, like vanity, greed, envy, death, an angel…” he trailed off.

“Was just a cool city,” he mumbled, suddenly abashed at the undivided attention Louis was giving him and his story. “The people were friendly, and the architecture was all stonework down in the centre of Prague. The history’s cool, you don’t hear too much about the Czech Republic.”

Louis nodded his head and hummed.

They fell silent as a gentle breeze wafted through the field and ruffled their hair. Harry shivered at the sensation and watched Zayn return from the building with Eli. Harry took the moment of silence to tip his head backwards and catch the rays from the sun on his face.

He blinked his eyes open sluggishly at the sound of Eli’s chattering approaching closer and straightened his head upright just in time to catch Louis staring at him. Louis turned away quickly and addressed Zayn.

“Zayn.” He stretched out in a full body stretch. “Harry here thinks you and Liam are being obtuse.”

Harry’s hand slipped from its leverage against the ground and he sputtered out, “What? No I don’t. I never said anything like that.” He glowered at the side of Louis’ face.

Louis ignored him. “We were talking about it earlier, I personally agree with him and think you should act on it once and for all.” He brought a fist down to his palm with a vehement smack.

Zayn shifted his glance to Harry briefly before returning it to Louis and saying softly, “No man, I’m not doing it.”

“Well why not?”

“Because,” Zayn insisted. “Liam is different. He’s not like any of the other blokes I’ve had feelings for.”

 _“What_ other blokes?”

Zayn sputtered, “Like the ones in Uni.”

Louis narrowed his eyes. “Zayn, you’re a chicken shit,” he stated.

“‘M not,” Zayn insisted. The argument was weak. 

“He is.” Louis turned to Harry, “There weren’t any guys in Uni. Our last semester, we were in our osteology lab—”

“What’s osteology?” Harry interrupted.

“The study of bones,” Zayn offered morosely. He plucked at the unsuspecting strands of grass on the ground and tossed them down in a huff.

“—There was a guy he liked, who sat down at the end of the table, and for the entire semester Zayn would surreptitiously stare at him and claim to me the entire time _‘Lou! He’s staring at me too!’_ Then near the end of the semester he ran into him at the bar and just stammered his way out of a conversation, and then ignored him all throughout exam period.”

A rosy hue generated on Zayn’s cheeks and he leaned over to punch Louis in the arm. “Way to make me sound like an idiot. How about you huh, just the other day you were saying—”

Louis blanched, and he suddenly leapt into Zayn’s space and began thrusting his pelvis near his head.

“‘You and me baby ain’t nothing but mammals.’” He scrunched up his face in an over exaggerated orgasm face as he sang the lyric. “So let’s do it like do on discovery _channel!_ ”

Zayn’s head snapped up so fast, a look of extreme horror laced his features and he fell backwards onto the ground in his scramble to get away.

Harry roared with laughter, and the nearby chimpanzees began screeching in reaction as if the laughter was contagious. Louis’ eyes were scrunched up in small slits, his mouth fallen open, and a hand splayed across his tummy. Harry felt his stomach knot up. They made eye contact and they laughed, and laughed, and laughed. The heat in Harry’s stomach never went away.

Niall was an easy going guy. He enjoyed kicking back, relaxing and having a drink, and playing sports with the locals. His main priorities in life consisted of visiting his family, especially his nephew, as often as his could, and maintaining the core of his circle of friends; all while ensuring that the Sanctuary Islands operated well under budget. That was all. It wasn’t a difficult task.

So when he got the idea that his group of friends, including the new photographer from _National Geographic_ , should drive down to Pointe-Noire to have a night out at a bar, he didn’t expect there to be any issues.

However, as he took in the silence in the vehicle, he realized that the tension between Zayn and Liam, and Louis and Harry, may be teetering upon the edge of a precipice, ready to drop down and snap at any time.

Harry's a decent lad, Niall’s decided. Quiet at times, but only because he’s uncertain of where he fits in. Niall understood that coming into their foursome can be a little intimidating, but speaking to Harry individually had been great. They’d accomplished a lot during their time together, working on the website design most mornings, much to Lynn’s chagrin of course.

Niall could tell that Harry was drawn to Louis, but was increasingly becoming frustrated by the lack of response from him and the inability to crack the enigma that was Louis.

Niall snorted softly to himself, Louis’ really not that much of an enigma. He was more so stubborn, and born of a rare breed that actually adhered to the warning of ‘fool me once…shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.’ Because you see, he actually _listened_ to the first half of the statement.

However, Niall believed that Louis may have misjudged the situation this time. But, he decided that he’d let Louis come to his own conclusion that Harry was a decent lad.

His eyes shifted to take a look at Liam through the rearview mirror. Liam and Zayn. Liam, the poor sod, was oblivious to the _burgeoning desire that lurked within Zayn_. At least, that was how he figured Zayn would describe it. The give-take relationship between the two was positively headache inducing, as it was threatened by the unwillingness of Zayn to admit his true feelings regarding both his dislike for Liam’s position in the forest as well as his _like_ for the man. Should Zayn ever tell him the truth, Niall suspected that Liam would finally realize what’s been buried down all along.

Some days Niall felt like a mother hen watching over the two pairs, their silted interactions were painful to watch. Niall wasn’t sure if Zayn would ever find his courage, nor was he sure that Louis would willingly allow Harry to get close to him. Niall shook his head slightly and mumbled nonsensically under his breath. What he wouldn’t give to just shove them both in separate rooms and make them—

“Y’alright Horan? You talking to yourself there?”

“Hmm? What?” He turned his head briefly, addressing whoever it was that had spoken, “Yeah, yeah m’good.” It’s Louis who’s laughed at him.

“I think the humidity’s getting to ya!” Louis reached his arm from the middle of the back seat to shove Niall lightly. The jeep veered slightly on the road in result, eliciting a _‘hey!’_ from Liam. Niall heard the two squabbling as he righted the vehicle back in the centre of the lane. A laugh tumbled out of his mouth at a squawk that emanated from the back.

He glanced at the man beside him, asking quietly, “What’s up?”

Zayn turned to him, smiling briefly. “Nothing Nialler.” He leaned his head against the window pane, still facing him. “How are the plans going for the third island?”

Niall groaned softly, “The outlined budget for it doesn’t match up with the corresponding funds that we receive from Tchimpounga. So that’s been a right pain in the arse since it’s caused construction to be delayed. Plus, there’s increasing talk about having it as a rehabilitation centre for some other primate species’, which means re-working some of the original specs.”

Zayn perked up. “Oh, do you know which ones they’re thinking?”

Niall furrowed his brow. “I think it was mandrills.”

“Oh fuck,” Zayn breathed, sitting up straighter in his seat. “ _Mandrillus sphinx_. That would be so sick. Mandrills are so”—he searched for the word—“so _intimidating_. They’ve got these bright hues of red and blue on their face, but with these piercing eyes, and the longest canines.” He drew his fingers down the sides of his mouth. “They’re quite territorial, and can live in troops of up to two hundred other mandrills, and dominating individuals can get quite aggressive with one another.”

Louis leaned forward into the conversation. “Plus the colours on their faces are the exact same on their bums.” He waggled his eyebrows. “The males have brighter colours than the females, with the dominant male having the brightest of them all.”

Zayn shifted in his shift. “I feel like that’d be you as a primate, Louis.”

A sudden honking laugh bursted out of Harry, and he clapped his hands over his mouth in an attempt to catch it.

Niall threw his head back, hitting the headrest and cackling as he watched Louis’ mouth in the rearview mirror drop open. Louis tried to thwack Zayn for the comment, but Zayn was too quick and leaned forwards in his seat towards the dashboard.

Louis must’ve given up and instead attacked the closer offender, for Niall heard a short yelp and, “Hey!— _oh_ ,— no, don’t.” A short giggle and the sound of scuffling then— “ _Louis!_ ”

Niall raised a finger in the air and declared, “Just for the record, I’m only driving us there, someone else is staying sober tonight to drive us home.”

“Shotty not,” Zayn mumbled, agreeing sentiments rose from Louis and Harry, who suddenly perked up at the declaration from the backseat, leaving a dejected, “Oh man,” to come from Liam.

"We should have just stayed in town for the night." Liam pouted.

"Nah man, we don't have they money for that," Niall insisted, shaking his head.

"Well it wouldn't have been a work expense," Liam griped, hoisting himself forwards with the use of Zayn’s headrest. "Zayn's been making sure I've been putting aside sixty percent of every paycheck, that way I save up."

Niall saw Liam grin dopily, and he glanced at Zayn, who had a soft smile on his face, but quickly shifted his expression into a neutral one upon getting caught.

He cleared his throat and said, "Yeah because you're terrible with your money."

Liam looked affronted. "But that's only because online shopping exists! I'll have you know—”

Niall chose that moment to tune out of the conversation, he’d heard enough of Liam and Zayn's squabbling to last him a lifetime.

Niall focused his attention to driving, the sky was dark now so he switched on the headlights to illuminate the dirt road. The forest began thinning out the further away they drove from The Islands, the light from the city edging closer.

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He hadn’t driven the jeep in a while now and had forgotten his dislike for remaining motionless for long periods of time. He felt the glasses on the bridge of his nose slide down in his movement so he scrunched up his nose to have his cheeks push them back up.

He felt a hand card through the back of his hair. “Y’alright Nialler?” Louis asked.

“Oh, yeah, I’m good.”

“Stop thinking about work.”

“I’m not,” He insisted.

“You sure? You’re awfully quiet.”

“Promise. Thinking about you twats being idiots actually.” He cracked half a smile and turned his head slightly so that Louis could see it.

“Oii, why are we twats?” Louis pulled some of his hair harshly between his fingers.

“ _Ouch._ ” He yanked his head forwards out of the lingering grip.

“Hey, why am I a twat?” Niall felt a finger reach from behind him to poke at his arm closest to the window.

“Hey, leave the driver alone! And yer all twats because you’re being oblivious, now shut up and tell me how to get to the bar, I can’t remember which street I need to turn down,” Niall grumbled.

As the jeep rolled into the city centre, their surroundings became alive with activity. The streetlights illuminated the roads and showcased the multiple vendors packing up for the night, while the night owls began trickling out for their own adventures. People dressed in dancing attire made their way down the sidewalks and restaurants opened their patio doors to let music drift out into the night.

Niall drove through the centre of the city and towards the outskirts where their favourite bar was located beside the ocean. Pale yellow lights illuminated the the front of the bar, with the soft, warm glow inviting one to step inside and lose themselves to the music.

He parked near the front, switching off the engine as the sounds of the doors closing from the eager men echoed into the night. He inhaled the smell of the ocean and if he listened close enough, the waves crashing against the shore could be distinctly made out over the thrum of the music from the bar. He yanked on the hem of his shirt and adjusted the frame of his glasses which slipped down his nose again.

He locked the vehicle with a beep and tossed the keys over to Liam who tried to give him a puppy dog look.

“Nuh uh, not happening.” He side stepped the attempt of Liam’s arm being casually slung over his shoulders. A second later, a hand swiped at the back of his shirt, but he scooted forwards out of reach.

“Suck it up Liam!” Louis came up behind Liam and twisted a nipple. “You were wasted the last time we came here, it’s our turn yeah?”

Niall turned around to walk backwards, Louis had slung his arm around Liam’s shoulders, and Zayn and Harry were walking together behind them, their hands shoved into the pockets of their tight pants.

“But—” Liam tried to argue.

“No buts. No ifs, ands or buts. Well, maybe _butts_. Like the bum variety.” Louis waggled an eyebrow at him. Liam yanked his head from underneath the hand that had drifted up to ruffled his hair.

“We’re not staying here the night, I’m not going to pull.”

Both Zayn and Louis stopped walking. “You didn’t correct me,” Louis said.

“What?” Liam stopped as well. “What do you mean?”

“I was referring to bums of the _male_ variety. Ya know, bum stuff.”

“Could you be more childish?” Liam scoffed.

“Probably.”

“Since when do you openly talk about males that way?” Zayn asked.

“I’ve never not, not talked about them?” Liam’s brows furrowed at his wording.

“Liam, how did we not know that you liked dick too? Zaynie this is great—”

“Shut _up_ ,” Zayn hissed. He furiously walked up to the door of the venue and yanked it open. The woman at the desk didn’t even bother trying to speak to him, but simply moved out of his way.

Liam blinked. “Wha’d I do?”

Louis narrowed his eyes before sighing reluctantly. “For someone who claims to be Zayn’s best mate, I’m sure he feels a bit put off that he didn’t know this side of you.”

“He’s never asked!” Liam held his hands out in consternation.

Louis glowered at him and Harry rocked onto the tips of his feet in silence, lips pursed in thought.

A lightbulb went off. “Hey wait a sec. Does that mean I’m the only one here who doesn’t like dick? Wow talk about going against the average.” Niall clapped a hand down on his thigh.

“Niall, you can’t just assume that Harry’s gay. He could be any one of the sexualities,” Louis admonished.

“Ohh I’m gay,” Harry assured him with a wide eyed stare, and Niall laughed as he walked inside.

The bar was more of an entertainment venue, structured neither like a pub or a club, but rather a combination of the two. With bamboo like interior decorations, wooden floors, and various floral scattered throughout, it was a place for both tourists and locals. A large dance floor surrounded by tables and chairs for spectators was accompanied by a local band instead of a DJ, which sat on the floor instead of up on a stage.

It had an open concept, where one wall was entirely open to the ocean, the beach a mere fifty steps away to allow couples to sink their feet into the sand or perhaps partake in a rendezvous under the glowing light of the moon.

Niall nodded his head as he took in the surroundings. “It’s going to be a good night lads.” He could feel it.

“Where did Zayn go?” Louis nudged Niall’s elbow with his own, rubbing his hands together as he looked around the room.

Niall lifted a finger and pointed to the back of the room where Zayn had claimed a round table for himself and sat glaring at anyone who walked past him.

Louis sighed. “Right, well this causes for a drink. Multiple drinks,” he insisted.

“I’ll come with.” Liam trailed after Louis with a pout.

“Well, things can only go uphill from here, right?” Niall turned to Harry, who was currently distracted by watching Louis’ backside. He thwacked the back of his hand against Harry’s chest, and Harry startled, looking at him sheepishly.

Niall shook his head as he walked over to Zayn. “Idiots,” he mumbled under his breath.

Zayn barely gave him a glance as he settled into a chair. The music was a steady rumble, the _drum, drum, drum_ , from the bongos over the murmur of conversations.

"Zayn, are you gonna pout all night?" Niall nudged his shoulder.

Zayn let his body be shifted at the motion. "Maybe," he stated indignantly.

"Don't do that." Harry leaned forward on the table. "Let's make a pact tonight to not let the actions or words of anyone else affect our mood."

Zayn stared at him balefully. "Fine. No promises though."

Harry nodded. "Fair enough." He looked up at the rustle of chairs to see Louis standing beside him, biting a lip, and Liam moved beside Zayn.

They placed five glasses down on the table, dishing them out, and scraping chairs in movement as they settled into them.

Liam leaned into Zayn’s space. “Hey, I guess I’m sorry I never told you about my preferences.”

Zayn shot him a withered stare. “You guess?”

“Well what do you want me to say?”

“I thought we were best friends,” Zayn mumbled.

Liam, incredulous, shot a hand out to Zayn’s bicep and squeezed. “We _are_ ,” he insisted. “I just honestly thought it was something you knew.” 

Bewildered, Zayn said, “Well how would I have ever known if you’ve never told me?”

Liam shrugged and answered, “Dunno, you’re smart, thought you would have figured it out or something.” He shifted his gaze downwards, sucking his lip inwards before looking back up at him. “Forgive me?” he implored.

Niall kicked Zayn underneath the table to shove them out of their bubble. Zayn’s head whipped to glare at him and Niall gestured with his eyebrows at Liam, mouthing, _‘come on_.’

Zayn’s lips pursed and he nodded in resignation at Liam. Liam grinned brightly and draped an arm around his shoulders, rocking him with a hug. Zayn's lips involuntarily turned upwards, and he took a gentle sip of his beer.

The moment was ruined however a second later when a woman stumbled into the table and Liam gained a handful of long legs into his lap.

Zayn immediately slipped his body free from Liam's arm and scowled at the woman who had begun talking to Liam.

Niall sighed, turning his gaze away from his incompetent friends and deciding that he’ll let them sort out their issues on their own. After all, there was only so much he could do.

His gaze roved over to the bar where it landed on a pair of white shorts. Niall blinked and followed the line downwards to a pair of wedges, before trailing back up to eyes that caught him staring. He blinked away quickly, but brought his gaze back, intrigued by the wide set eyes and the smile that lit up the woman’s face.

She was being coy, tilting her head in his direction but pretending as if she hadn’t just done it. Her back turned to him and she sent a look over her shoulder. She was wearing a halter top and her long hair swished to the side to reveal the expanse of her bare back.

Niall swallowed and blinked back into the conversation to hear Harry ask Louis, “Do you dance?”

“Ehh, not really,” Louis replied.

“What? Louis you’re always out there when you’re drunk,” Niall blurted.

Louis sent him a meaningful stare, while Harry frowned, looked down at his glass, and then picked it up to chug the beer all in one go.

“Woah, steady on.” Liam eyed the now empty glass as it was placed back down on the table.

Harry smacked his lips and shrugged. "Been awhile since I've drank, might as well go all out, yeah?"

"The night's early mate." Louis eyed him wearily.

"Yeah well, maybe I'll go find a willing dancing partner." Harry shot him a look and stood up, walking away from the table.

Niall held up his hands in exasperation at Louis to which Louis winced and then sighed, standing up to go follow him.

The remaining three sat in silence, sipping beers and watching people mull about in the room. Niall didn't want to be a part of this. “Right well, you lads stay out of trouble. I’ll be back.” He clapped a hand on Zayn’s shoulder, squeezing briefly, and got up.

“Where are you going?” He heard called out to him, but he ignored it in favour of the woman who had sent him another meaningful look.

As he made his way over, he appreciated the lovely image of her black hair cascading down her back to the top of the curve of her bum. He nudged his way in-between her and the person beside her, leaning his arms on top of the bar.

She faced him at the rustle of his approach, giving gave him a once over, so he said, “Hi, I’m Niall. Can I buy you a drink?”

Harry watched Niall out of the corner of his eye, he was nonplussed at the audacity of him, for the man exuded an air of confidence and an easy going nature. He seemed determined to go after the things he wanted.

Harry flagged down the bartender, pointing at the random drink the person beside him had to indicate his choice. He felt someone nudge his back and he turned with a question on his lips, to see Louis.

Harry pursed his lips, but shuffled over a few steps to make a spot for Louis at the bar.

"Look, I'm sorry for earlier," Louis said.

"For what?"

Louis sighed, "I like dancing. I was just—surprised by your question is all. It's an automatic defence mechanism to shoot anything down, I'm sorry."

Harry hummed thoughtfully. "Is it with everyone, or just me?" he asked.

Louis swallowed, blinking away and then taking a deep breath. "Sort of you, only because I mean, I'm seeing you everyday, wouldn't it be weird?" He gestured blandly between them.

Harry feigned ignorance. "Would what be weird?" _Come on, say it._

"If we, you know, were to do anything. Dancing usually leads to...intimate relations."

"What kind of dancing do _you_ do? Maybe it's just platonic dancing between two mates? What makes you think I want more?" Harry asked, cocking his head.

Louis stuttered, "Well, I mean, I just assumed—” He cut himself off upon looking at Harry's upturned lips. He jabbed forward and punched Harry in the arm. "You're a twat."

Harry laughed, then changed the topic to avoid answering Louis' comment. "You look good by the way," he murmured.

Louis' mouth turned upwards, and he straightened out his shirt, picking an invisible fluff off it, "Thanks, _mate_." Louis smirked.

 _You shit_. "Homo intended," Harry said, trying not to smile.

Louis' laugh and reply was suddenly cut off when Harry felt a hand grip his forearm and yank him away from the bar. Harry barely had anytime to place his drink down on the surface before he was stumbling along with the movement.

He looked up to see the back of the head of women with long, plaited braids in her hair. She suddenly let go of Harry’s hand, turning around, and began speaking in a language he didn't recognize. He couldn't detect any French words, so he assumed it was one of the local dialects.

Harry furrowed his brows and held up his hands to indicate he didn’t understand. However, with her continued gesturing towards the floor, a second later it clicked and Harry understood. “Oh!”

She wanted to dance.

Harry’s face brightened and he answered her with a timid grin. He took her outstretched hand and with a quick glance back at Louis, who was smiling at him, followed her onto the dance floor.

The woman let go of Harry’s hand once they reached the the group of dancing bodies. She reached down with her left hand to gather the bottom of her skirt, and raised her right above her head to twirl her delicate wrist around, the bangles shaking along to the sensual beat of the music. Harry stood motionless for a moment before copying her movements with his hands. He placed one hand instead near his waist, cocked on the top of his thigh, his other hand he shot high into the air and began twirling around. He adopted a mock serious face and looked pointedly at the woman. She threw her head backwards and laughed, letting the skirt go to clap instead.

The woman’s dark skin was shimmering with sweat caused by the humid weather and her energetic movements. She was fit, her neck displaying taunt muscles and the dip in her collarbones was evident as she moved rhythmically with the music, swaying her head to and fro. Beads of sweat glistened on her chest and rolled down to disappear into her dress.

She was wearing a blend of bright colours, hues of vivid green and violet swirls. The wrist not occupied by bangles had a scarf tied around it that was similarly coloured as the dress. Her entire look accentuated her femininity. She had very expressive eyes, and a smile that lit up her entire face. Harry thought that he would very much like to photograph her.

She reached for Harry’s hands, clasping both of them in her sweaty palms and began to encourage him to sway back and forth. Harry smiled and let her lead his movements. There were no lyrics to the music, but was rather a symphony of instruments, danceable beats which transitioned to and from, slower paced songs, to quick and bass thumping.

Harry let himself become immersed in the music, rolling his body in time to the beat. He wasn't aware of how he looked while dancing, but the woman was greatly amused by his antics so he carried on. The other dancers on the floor all had an air of sensuality about them. Their movements were a combination of shimmying hips, dramatic hands, and footwork. Harry didn't think he would be coordinated enough to copy their footwork, but he tried his best to move his hips and use his long arms to dance. He jokingly shimmied at the woman with his arms outstretched, a dopey grin on his face, and his shoulders alternating back and forth, pushing his chest outwards. She laughed before copying his movements, entering a battle with Harry as to whom could out shimmy the other.

Harry was beginning to lose track of how many songs he had been dancing for. He could feel perspiration gathering underneath his hair at the nape of his neck. He was jumping around too much. He dramatically began fanning his face and made a face at the woman indicating his dislike for the humidity.

Harry turned his gaze to look back at their table, the rest of the group had met back up again and were loitering around the table. Harry caught Louis in a moment where he had a hand splayed across the middle of his torso as he threw his head back laughing at the gesturing of Niall.

Harry was, for lack of a better word, enchanted.

He turned back to face the woman and held up his index finger, hoping she understood that it meant ‘one minute’, before walking over to the bar. He hailed a bartender down and requested a shot of vodka with a couple of francs he withdrew from his pocket that Niall had given to him earlier in the afternoon. _“The least I can do for you helping me out with the website is pay for your drinks tonight!”_

Harry then threw the shot back quickly, disallowing himself to consider the burning sensation of the alcohol. The bartender ‘whooped’ at him and Harry grimaced, holding up the empty glass in lieu of responding. Harry gathered his courage before marching over to the table that held their group.

“Louis?"

Louis dragged his palm down his torso before letting it fall limp.

“You _are_ a trouble maker,” Louis sighed.

“Will you come dance with us?” Harry reached a hand outwards towards louis, palm facing upwards. Louis glanced down at the outstretched hand. His lips pursed slightly and the apple of his neck bobbed as he swallowed thickly. Louis raised his eyes to look at Harry.

“Don’t you want to know why you’re a trouble maker?” Louis asked instead.

Harry made a noise in the back of his throat. “I don’t particularly care why.”

Louis carried on as if he didn’t hear Harry, “You’re a trouble maker because you’re full of contradictions. You can come across as a quiet man, but you can also toss aside all reservations and dance however you want. Everybody wants you. You make everyone in the room want to be with you."

 _Except you_. Harry thought.

Harry bypassed Louis' last comment. "Why would I want to deny myself the simple pleasure of dancing though?" He cocked his head at Louis. "It's also poor form to ignore a request from a beautiful woman. When she asks you to dance, you don't deny her."

"What about a request from a beautiful man?" Louis had his arms crossed against his chest now, his face set in a stony expression, but Harry could see the mirth lurking in his eyes.

"Well, in my opinion, everyone is beautiful. So denying a man would also be poor form." Harry grinned at Louis, curving the tips of his fingers on his still outstretched hand in a come on gesture.

"I should have known you would be an equal opportunist." Louis _tsked_ and sighed dramatically before placing his hands on the surface of the table and pushing himself to stand up. The sound of the chair leg’s squeal was drowned out with the beginning of a new song trickling through the bands speakers.

"There's beauty in everything Louis. You just have to look hard enough." Harry sought Louis' eyes out, determined to communicate to him through a glance that Harry was going restore the hope in human nature that Louis seemed to had lost.

Louis paused at the earnestness of Harry’s comment, but nonetheless placed his hand in Harry’s and followed him back to the woman he left on the dance floor. Harry dropped Louis’ hand once they reached her and she smiled broadly at the increase in number to their dance party. She grabbed Louis’ hand much as she had with Harry, and began encouraging Louis to copy her dance movements.

Harry watched the pair with a small smile on his face. He noticed that Louis’ entire attention was placed upon the woman, leaning his ear forward occasionally to catch what she was saying to him over the loud music.

Louis pointed at Harry before mouthing what looked to be ‘Harry’ to the woman and then gestured for Harry to come join them. Harry danced-shuffled over to join the conspiring duo to catch the woman clap her hands gleefully and jump up and down.

Harry tilted his head at Louis. “What did you say to her?”

“Only that you wanted to try some traditional Congolese dancing.” Louis plastered a shit-eating grin upon his face as Harry’s eyes widened.

“Uh, I don’t think—”

“Harry, this lovely woman here is Dominique,” Louis interrupted, he was holding Dominique’s hand in his palm, with his other hand classed gently on top of hers. “Dominique works in the tourism industry here in Pointe-Noire, she’s in charge of putting on some of the cultural shows here in the city. She’s going to show you something, her dance troupe is here tonight.”

At the end of Louis’s declaration, he dropped Dominique’s hand and nodded once to her before pulling Harry aside off of the dance floor at the same time Dominique shouted something loudly over the music, to which there was a loud cry of approval that came from all ends of the room. The music suddenly stopped and a number of women began pouring onto the dance floor.

The women all bent their knees down into a half crouch and began alternately lifting in each foot in place whilst simultaneously rotating their shoulders and rolling their hands in a wave formation. The music that started up again was a pattern of fast paced, beating drums which accompanied the women’s movements. They began raising their arms above their hands while lifting each foot and stomping it on the ground before repeating the motion with the other foot.

The group of ten or so women then split up, and half went to the front of the dance floor where they slowly lowered themselves onto their knees while rotating their hands in the air. The patrons in the bar hooted and catcalled, and the women in the back row of the dance floor responded by swivelling their hips and copying the same rotations of their hands as the women kneeling on the floor.

Harry looked over to where Dominique was stationed in the middle of the group kneeling on the floor to see that she had a wide grin on her face, as did the rest of her troupe of women.

Dominique then shouted something and the five women on the floor stood up and ran towards the others, who also began running. They all bypassed one another at the last second to suddenly stop at the other side of the dance floor and lean one side of their body over to pretend to hit the floor with a hand.

Harry saw out of the corner of his eye that Louis and other patrons in the bar watching had begun clapping their hands in time to the moment where the women mimicked hitting the floor.

They repeated this move a few more times before suddenly running to the centre of the dance floor where they huddled together in place before scattering out to the edge of the dance floor, where they began grabbing unsuspecting men and women to join them on the floor. Harry realized that Dominique was charging towards him and laughing at Harry’s brief look of terror on his face. Harry tried to take a step backwards but in the time Harry had his attention on Dominique, Louis had moved to stand behind him and reached up to firmly grip his biceps to keep him in place.

Lips brushed the edge of his ear as Louis leaned forward and said, “Go get em tiger.”

Harry had only a moment to feel the goosebumps rise on his arms from the caress of Louis’ voice before Dominique seized his hands and he was yanked onto the dance floor. Harry stumbled along and heard Louis’ soft laughter diminish into the abyss of music starting up again.

Dominique lead Harry over to where the other women had lined up their victims all on one side of the dance floor. The women had created three rows of people lined up before beginning the next dance.

The first row of the actual dancers lead off all completing the same movements where they quickly side stepped back and forth while simultaneously sweeping their arms outwards before bringing them back to touch palms in front of their chest.

Once the first row was a couple of paces ahead, the second row of women began completing the same movements, filling up the dance floor. The women were all fluid in their movements, swinging their hips and heads in time to the sweeping motions of their arms.

Harry realized that the victims that had been chosen were divided up into the last two rows, and his row was next.

Harry glanced at the people standing beside him and saw that they were gearing up to begin the movements. One woman already had her arms moving in time to the Congolese dancers that she was watching.

Dominique shouted at Harry’s row and they took off in an unorganized fashion, limbs flailing every which way. Harry crouched his knees a bit and began sidestepping, his arms resembling more of a bird flapping its wings, as he tried to get into the rhythm of it. He saw that the first row of dancers had reached the top of the dance floor, and they all walked off to the side where they then lined up at bottom of the floor to go again.

Harry could hear the crowd’s cheering increase in volume when the non-dancers had begin their movements. He could hear laughter at their uncoordinated movements and he couldn’t help but join in. He reached the top end of the dance floor and turned around to walk back to the bottom, catching Louis clapping along and laughing at the spectacle. His eyes twinkled with laughter and crinkled in the creases as his gaze met Harry’s. “Well done.” He mouthed to Harry, giving him a thumbs up.

Harry rolled his eyes at Louis before rejoining the formation and beginning the sequence again. His cheeks were beginning to hurt from smiling so widely at the inability of the victims to get the dance down pat. Harry thought he was beginning to get the motions down, but from the look on Louis’ face, perhaps not.

After a few more attempts at the dance, the Congolese dancers suddenly switched it up again and began grabbing more unsuspecting patrons surrounding the dance floor, pulling them on to dance.

Harry swivelled around in place, raising his arm up and pointing directly at Louis. Louis took a step backwards, mouthing ‘oh no,’ while Harry yelled out, “Oh, _yes_!” Nodding in opposition to Louis’ shaking head.

Harry raced up to Louis quickly and grasped both hands in his and Louis laughed as he stumbled along after Harry. There was no more choreography happening, but instead a congregated dance party of everyone dancing sporadically and laughing.

Harry began jumping up and down, shimmying his arms back and forth with his hands still clasped in Louis’. He raised their linked hands above their heads and swung them to the left, twirling his and Louis’ bodies underneath. Their backs brushed against one another, but Harry didn’t have any time to worry about the sweat cooling underneath his shirt because Louis let go of Harry’s one hand to twirl him properly. Harry glided underneath Louis’ arm, noticing that Louis was on the tips of his toes to accommodate Harry’s height.

As Harry righted himself, he saw that Louis was breathing heavily. Louis reached up to brush his now sweaty fringe to the side of his forehead. He took a step backwards from Harry, withdrawing from their little bubble they had created. His mouth was open as if about to say something.

But Harry reached out before he could, pulling Louis in towards him. He placed a hand on the curve of Louis’ waist, gently squeezing it, and brought his other hand up to join with Louis’ beside their shoulders, using their joined hands as an anchor to propel a soft sway.

Louis raised his eyebrows before placing his empty hand upon Harry’s shoulder.

“You know this style of dance doesn’t really fit for the current music playing, right?”

Harry leaned forward to talk directly into Louis’ ear, “I know, but it’s easier to talk this way now isn’t it?” Harry felt Louis suck in a deep breath as their chests brushed against one another.

“What do you want to talk about?” Louis inquired, as he turned his head to look somewhere to the side, his fringe tickling Harry’s cheek.

“Okay I lied,” Harry admitted.

Louis startled, quickly looking back at Harry’s face. “Oh?”

“I just really wanted an excuse to be this close to you,” Harry sheepishly confessed.

Louis barked a laugh, “Harry you’re incorrigible.”

“I’m not sorry.”

“You don’t have to be,” Louis spoke softly. “It’s always good to be honest.”

Harry fell silent when he felt Louis’ thigh brush against his as he slowly turned them around in place in contrast to the upbeat tempo of the drums.

They danced slowly for the rest of the song, and when it ended Harry allowed Louis to withdraw from his embrace. Louis looked at Harry. “I’m going to go get a drink,” his eyelashes fluttered to accompany his softly spoken words. Harry watched Louis turn, his hips swaying as he sauntered over to the bar.

Harry took a deep breath, realizing that his chest was tight with anticipation. He rubbed a palm over it in an attempt to relax his muscles as he started walking back towards the group.

“Nice dance moves Styles!” Niall greeted Harry with a clap on the back as Harry pulled out a chair and abruptly sat down.

He rolled his eyes. “What was I supposed to do?” Harry stated indignantly.

“Hey now.” Niall leaned forward, his crossed arms resting on the tabletop, an easy grin on his face as he said, “Just because Tommo didn’t dance with you longer, doesn’t mean you hafta get all huffy on me.”

Harry’s cheeks flushed. “Sorry,” he muttered, head hanging down. “It’s just. Why does he seem so afraid to get close to me?”

“Because you’re making him rethink everything.” Zayn’s voice lilted over the table.

Harry looked up to see that Zayn’s hair was now pulled back into a ponytail, his arms crossed, save for a hand rubbing against the scruff on his jaw. Liam was leaning towards Zayn with an arm thrown over the back Zayn’s chair again.

With one glance at the pair, one would think that they were a comfortable couple, years into an easy companionship. However, Harry could still see the tenseness in Zayn’s shoulders, and the grating of Liam’s teeth every time he inched closer to Zayn, but Zayn would respond by shifting his position.

Harry withdrew himself from his musings. “Is that a bad thing then?” He fiddled with the rings adorning his fingers, looking down at the tabletop as he waited for an answer.

Niall finally spoke up, “No man, it’s not a bad thing at all. It’ll just take him some time to realize that you’re different than—”

Liam noisily set down the now drained beer glass he had in his hand and uncrossed his legs, sitting up straighter and leaning forwards towards Niall.

The table went silent for a moment before Harry quietly inquired, “So what am I supposed to do in the meantime then?”

“Nothing,” Liam answered before anyone could, earning a glare from Zayn.

“Not nothing,” Zayn bit out. _There we go again._ “Just don’t push him too much. Give him some time to accept you.”

Harry sighed, and surveyed the bar, finding Dominique still on the dance floor with her troupe. She still had so much energy. He found his gaze inevitably drawn to the curve of Louis’ back. Louis, who was standing at the bar talking to a man beside him.

The man was broad, wearing a simple black T-shirt, cargo shorts, and flip flops. He was leaning his well defined arms over the edge of the bar, his body upper torso twisted to face Louis as they spoke. Harry wasn’t sure if Louis was interested or not, as his hips were turned slightly towards the man, but his torso faced the bar. Louis’ head turned to answer something that the man had said and Harry felt a jolt in his stomach at the smile Louis gave the man.

He looked back to the guys at his table, his leg now bouncing up and down. Zayn gave a little shake of his head, but Harry was already decided. He stood up abruptly and began walking towards the bar.

“Not that!” He heard shouted out at him as he began weaving through the crowd.

Harry was passing the dance floor when Dominique appeared in his line of vision with a grin. He smiled at her before pointing at Louis.

Dominique gave a knowing smile and then made a shooing motion towards Harry and indicated towards Louis. During her motion, the scarf tied on her wrist had unravelled and floated to the dance floor. Harry bent down quickly to avoid it getting damaged from spilt alcohol and leaned up to hand back the scarf, but she shook her head and pushed Harry’s outstretched hand back to his chest and curled his fingers over the scarf. He clasped his hands together as if to pray, the scarf clutched between his fingers and bowed his head towards her with a smile before standing straight resuming his mission.

Just before Harry reached the pair standing at the bar, he tucked the bandana in his back pocket before adopting a huge grin on his face, and adding a wobble to his stride. He stopped in front of the men and slung his arm around Louis’ shoulders, squeezing Louis’ neck.

“Who’s yer friend Louis?” Harry asked, purposely slurring a few words.

“Oi! Steady on!” Louis brought a hand up to Harry’s sternum to straighten the jostled duo.

“Uhh, I’m James.” The man reached a hand out towards Harry, to which Harry extended the same courtesy.

“Ohh, that’s quite a firm grip you’ve got there James,” Harry teased as he shook James’ hand enthusiastically. A little too enthusiastically. Harry watched Louis narrow his eyes at him.

“What’s up, Harry?”

Harry shook his head. “Mmm not much, just wanted to see what you were up to.” He reached a hand up to trail a finger down the side of Louis’ reddened neck.

James coughed lightly. “Well, it was lovely to meet you Louis. Enjoy the rest of your night.” He nodded at Harry. “Harry.”

Harry gave him a two fingered salute, but then promptly giggled when Louis poked him hard between the ribs. Harry caught his hand and squealed, “Hey! Th—that tickles!”

“You’re not drunk,” Louis hissed. “You certainly weren’t when we were dancing, though not everyone would know that.” he muttered to himself. “You couldn’t have become drunk in the little amount of time I’ve been standing here at the bar.” he proclaimed, louder.

“I don’t need to be drunk to throw some crazy shapes on the dance floor, Louis,” Harry stated, pretending to be affronted.

“That’s not even—the point,” Louis trailed off, before throwing Harry’s arm off of his shoulders. He sighed exasperatedly. “Harry.”

“Why are you so afraid to let me near you?” Harry interjected, dropping the drunk act.

“I’m not.” Louis raised his hands out, palms turned upwards.

“Then prove it,” Harry stated.

Louis eyeballed him for a moment before taking a minuscule step closer to him.

“And how, exactly would you like me to prove it.”

Harry narrowed his eyes briefly before stepping into Louis’ space, he could feel the heat simmering between them and he rested his hands on Louis waist, pushing him against the bar. “Prove it, by letting me near you.”

“By letting me, touch you,” He continued as he trailed his hands up from Louis’ waist, his T-shirt riding up, teasing Louis’ skin with the tips of his fingertips leaving in wake the exposure of the air. He tilted his head forward to nuzzle at the side of Louis’ head, inhaling the sharp scent of apple shampoo.

“Oi! Don’t be doing the nasty at my bar!” The barman swatted a rag at Louis’ back before transitioning into French. Louis’ eyes widened at the barman’s tone, hands coming up to Harry’s waist and beginning to push.

He grabbed Louis’ right hand from his waist before he could be pushed away and began marching away from the bar and towards the deck facing the ocean.

Harry stopped to survey the deck, there were a couple of people mulling about with drinks in their hands and grins plastered upon their faces. The nighttime air brought a cool, salty breeze off the ocean that wafted into their faces. He dragged Louis to a secluded corner of the deck where he deposited Louis against the wooden wall by pinning his shoulders.

“Harry wait—”

“Tell me you don’t want me.”

Harry ducked down to level his gaze directly with Louis. Louis stilled and tried to turn his head away but Harry shifted his head to follow him, capturing his chin gently with fingers and stilling his motions.

“It’s not that I don’t want you,” Louis whispered.

“Then what’s the problem?” Harry asked, his voice equally as soft as Louis’. “Can I kiss you?”

Louis didn’t say anything further, his eyes shifting down to look at Harry’s lips. Harry squeezed Louis’ shoulders in reply as he watched a pink tongue slip out to wet a bottom lip, and his head nodded slightly.

Harry took that as all the confirmation he needed and he surged forwards to connect their lips, bubbles erupting in Harry’s abdomen when Louis responded eagerly by reaching up to tangle his hands in Harry's curls and tugging.

Harry moaned into Louis’ mouth, parting his lips and flicking his tongue out to trace over Louis’, seeking permission, and pressing forwards with his body with the hopes of transferring all of the built up tension from the past week. Louis groaned softly at the added weight, and Harry brought his hands down to Louis’ hips to keep him from squirming.

“Oh God,” Louis panted, breaking the kiss, his head thunking back against the wood, and Harry began trailing kisses down the side of his neck instead. His hands left their grip on Louis’ hips and sought out the soft, warm skin of his lower back. He dragged his hands higher, scratching lightly with blunt fingernails as he enveloped Louis in his embrace.

“You’re so warm,” he murmured against his neck, biting softly at the tendons in a desire to leave a mark.

Louis sighed and pulled weakly at Harry’s jaw to draw him back upwards, so Harry pulled out from underneath Louis shirt and cradled his jaw with his hands as he deepened the kiss, breathing deeply, tilting his head and listening to the harsh smacking sounds of their lips and Louis’ own sharp breaths. His hips stuttered forward of their own volition, rolling upwards to seek friction against Louis.

Louis suddenly tore his mouth from Harry’s at the motion, gasping out, “We can’t.”

He splayed his hands against Harry’s chest, clenching his fingers into a ball and then propelling Harry backwards none too gently, wiping his mouth clean of the spit that lingered as he stalked off back inside the bar.

Harry was left reeling from the shock of Louis’ abrupt dismissal, standing by himself in the blinking shadows cast from the trees swaying in the moonlight.

Upon arriving back to the facility late last night, Louis had taken off with Zayn to a spare room before Harry could corner him. Then when he had tried to find him in the morning, the room had been empty, the bed already made up with crisp, clean sheets, without a trace of anyone having been there at all.

The car ride back had been tense. Zayn had stolen the front seat again and pretended to be asleep to avoid Liam's not so surreptitious glances at him while driving, and Louis had arranged it so that Niall sat in the middle of them two as a buffer, who was constantly chattering away about _Gabriella_ , while the rest of the men had sat in stony silence. No one had asked what happened between him and Louis.

This morning however, he was determined to get to the bottom of things, leaving shortly after breakfast to go over to Bebe. He pushed into the room with the intent of confronting Louis, stalking up to the man.

“Louis—“

“Hi Harry, how are you this wonderful morning?” Louis interrupted, briefly glancing up before going back to his charts. His posture was rigid, fists clenched tightly onto the clipboard.

“Can we talk about last night?”

“Nothing to talk about, it’s not going to happen.”

“I want it to,” Harry breathed. “I want it to a lot. Please.” He made a move towards Louis.

Louis took a step backwards while holding up his clipboard as a buffer between Harry and himself.

"I was trying to tell you last night, it'd be weird don't you think? You're ya know, here to work, and only for a few more days anyways. Plus, I have a strict no sleeping with or dating anyone residing on the islands rule.”

Harry blinked. “What? Why?”

"Because..." Louis trailed off as Harry reached for the clipboard. "Of reasons," He finished uncertainly.

"That's not a very good excuse," Harry murmured, reaching up to grab the front of Louis lab coat to pull him close and—

The door clicked open. They both froze and his hands clenched tighter in the lapels of the coat in reaction to hearing Liam and Zayn return from the yard. They hadn’t noticed Louis and Harry standing precariously close together on the other side of the whiteboard yet, and were arguing.

"I want to go back out again for a bit, camp for a few days and keep on eye on the chimps." Liam pushed through the door and held it open for Zayn.

"Liam, the chimps aren't going to like your presence, and they'll end up moving again, then you'll have to go follow, and it'll be never ending. What you need to do is prevent the hunters from leaving the city, instead of them already being in forest, because that's even more unsafe for you. So, you should be tracking Chris and his group in the city before they leave."

"Okay well Chris and his _buddies_ , were already in the forest remember? When I said a few days ago that they had moved? We were camping nearby them and trying to keep track of them right, but they must have caught on to us and then they moved during the night. The only reason we came back was because they snuck into our camp and stole all our food and tampered with our GPS, which is still being fixed, Patrick said it should be good in a day or so." Liam sounded terse.

Zayn’s voice turned irritated. “Louis didn’t tell me that part.” He paused then added, “You’re lucky that that's all Chris did, and that he didn't slash your tires like last time."

"We didn't have a vehicle with us."

Zayn made a noise. "Missing the point Liam."

Zayn finally walked past the whiteboard and blinked owlishly upon noticing Harry and Louis hiding. Harry took a slight step backwards. "Ehm, morning, Zayn, Liam."

Louis stepped around him, straightening out his coat with a slight cough, "I think this conversation should perhaps be had more privately?" He indicated with an obvious head tilt towards Harry, who held his hands up in surrender and made his way out into the yard.

Harry thought over what Liam and Zayn had been talking about as he walked towards Eli, who was huddled around something with a few of the other chimps. Harry had gotten good at recognizing the shape of Eli, and was able to pick out Elsie by her eyes, but the rest he still struggled with.

It seemed like this Chris was the leader of this hunting party that had been going after the wild chimpanzees. What was odd however was that it sounded like they knew Chris personally. How would they have come to known the name of only one of the hunters?

Harry hummed, there were too many unanswered questions, so he shifted his attention to the chimps. A couple of them backed away uncertainly at Harry's approach, so he stood back and still to make them at ease.

Eli however came over to Harry and cooed at him in a greeting, revealing his canines, Harry knelt over and gave Eli a dopey grin back to him, baring all of his teeth. Eli bounced in excitement and pulled Harry over to the group.

Most of the other chimps relaxed upon Eli's acceptance of Harry, but some still eyed him wearily. Eli dropped his hand once they entered the circle and picked up a thin reed from the ground. They were all around some sort of sandhill, all eagerly staring where a small circle protruded from the top. Eli suddenly unceremoniously shoved an end of the reed down the hole.

The end of the reed came back out with little bugs littered all over it. Eli lifted the reed to his mouth and slurped off the bugs like a kebab. Harry blinked, then laughed.

"Termite fishing."

Harry turned towards the voice to see Liam. "What?"

Liam cracked half a smile. "That's what Zayn calls it."

"Termites," Harry murmured. "That's so clever of them," he commented.

Liam nodded. "Yeah apparently it's a thing among chimpanzees. They're notorious in the wild for making and using tools. Although, these guys here had to be shown how to do it by Louis and Zayn since most of them were previously held captive. But yeah, there's a few different type of primate species that are capable of using tools, it’s another link that shows the bridge of why chimpanzees evolved into humans. From this sort of complex thinking."

Harry blinked at the abundance of knowledge Liam suddenly offered him. His surprise must have shown on his face.

"I know a thing or two about chimpanzees," Liam added, smiling wryly at him.

Harry shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry, I just haven't heard you talk about them that much."

"I'm just teasing, I only know it cos Zayn taught me," he offered with an easy grin. "Chimps are pretty cool though, I find it difficult to understand how anyone would want to hurt them." His brows furrowed as the littlest chimpanzee, Joe, began climbing up his leg, and he reached down to pick him up. "They've been through a lot, and yet, they trust us."

Elsie kept a sharp eye on Joe, but the fact that she made no immediate move to retrieve him was indicative to the truth behind Liam's statement.

Liam carried on, "Like you've got two separate situations, with chimps being malnourished, and raised in captivity, or tested on, like these guys, that makes me angry, but there's almost nothing I, personally, can do to fix it. But, the ones in the wild being hunted? That I can actually do something about ya know?"

"Playing devil's advocate for a moment." Harry searched for a delicate way to phrase it, "Humans are meat eaters, we eat cows, pigs, goats, etcetera, what's so wrong with eating chimpanzee meat? Just because you and I might think it's strange, doesn't mean people here do."

Liam looked thoughtful, a blank expression on his face, then a moment later. "Yeah, I see your point, but I think it's more so about the way it's accomplished, like killing the mothers, then taking their babies and selling them as pets, which leaves a male based population, which is unsustainable, right? Thus, causing the species to be endangered. Cows and pigs aren't at risk of going extinct," Liam concluded.

Harry nodded. "So the focus is maintaining populations, and to do that, the hunters need to be stopped," he clarified.

Liam nodded. "I think so." Joe squirmed in his arms as if able to sense the conversation was about something unpleasant, so Liam set him down gently and patted his back as he ran off to his mother.

"Come on, Niall should be finished with Louis and Zayn." Liam turned towards the building.

"When did Niall get here?" he asked.

"Earlier this morning with me, but he was probably napping when you came in, cheeky bugger. But Zayn and Louis said before I came out that they needed to go do something with him and they'd be back shortly. Dunno what though." Liam shrugged.

Eli tried to follow them back into the building, so they were sidetracked with distracting him with some of the toys lying about. Harry ran over to the tire swing and pretended to sit on it in an attempt to entice Eli to join him. He did, and he was soon distracted by it long enough to allow Harry and Liam to leave him.

Liam held the door for him, but suddenly stopped, causing Harry to crash into his back with an ‘oomph.’ His hands came up to steady himself.

“You shaved your head.”

Harry’s head snapped up. “Who shaved their head?” He walked around Liam to see that gone were the long black locks on Zayn’s head, which Liam seemed to be a fan of if his current state of disbelief was anything to go by.

“Uhm, yeah. Louis and I got haircuts.”

Harry squawked, head whipping around to seek out Louis. _Please no buzz cut, please no buzz cut…_

“Wanted something different,” Zayn mumbled as he ran a hand over his newly buzzed head, his cheeks turning pink at Liam’s continued stare.

Louis finally entered the room, his hair was noticeably shorter, and all slicked back. It wasn’t nearly as drastic as Zayn’s, and Harry felt a zing of heat swoop through his chest as he watched Louis run his hands through. The neat trim made him look older, with the lab coat and his wide stance doing nothing to quell Harry’s sudden arousal.

Liam blinked as Zayn’s words finally registered and he almost near shouted, " _Niall_ cut your hair?!"

Niall walked in after Louis. "Hey, I'll have you know that I'm capable of cutting hair, used to do it all the time when my brother and I went interrailing for a year, saved us money cos his hair grew like a weed."

Harry's eye twitched _‘interrailing,' who even was Niall?_

“Nobody uses that word,” Liam pointed out.

"Hey, screw you, I use it," Niall clipped.

Harry's gaze inevitably drew back to Louis, he couldn't help it. There was something about the new haircut that made him more refined. He looked sharper, a true professional, and when his gaze met Harry's he stared at him with a sense of intensity as he rubbed his hands together. Harry felt his heart flutter inside his ribcage.

"Here, sort out these tags." Louis grabbed a ziplock bag from a bin and tossed it to Zayn, who pouted at the prospect of work.

“I can help," Harry offered.

Zayn brightened, handing over the job easily and picking up an IPad. Liam and Niall joined him and soon the sounds of a video playing trickled from the device.

Louis harrumphed and glared at the other men as Harry moved to stand beside him at the counter, and they worked in silence sorting out the food tags that they needed for the day. Harry had witnessed the daily routines of labelling and filling out buckets accordingly to what each chimp would receive for the day based on their strict dietary regimes. There weren't as many free range fruit bushes and edible leaves as there were on Tchindzoulou, so feeding time took place more often on Bebe.

Their arms brushed up against one another’s as they moved around to accomplish the task. Harry was probably standing closer than normal, but Louis never moved away. Harry lingered with his glances and touches of gentle fingers, just to see if he could get away with it. Leaning over into Louis’ space to grab a sharpie, or pressing his arm against the warmth of Louis’ bicep, or inhaling the apple scent that lingered in the air. He heard a sharp intake of breath from beside him when his hair tickled along bare skin.

He stretched and twisted his torso with the hope of catching Louis' gaze swivel along his long lines. He did. Louis' eyes snapped downwards to the table and he fidgeted with the bags, veering slightly away from Harry, but his foot still overlapped Harry’s under the table.

A familiar song drifted from the video the others were watching on the IPad and Harry began humming along under his breath. A few words escaped in his eagerness as his hips slowly began bouncing to the beat.

Zayn's voice broke him out of his haze as he said, “Let’s bring the buckets out, Niall come help us." Liam made to follow Zayn and Niall pouted, trailing after.

Harry's head swivelled to look at Zayn and then back to Louis.

Louis' eyes met his in a heated stare. “Uhm, okay go ahead…we’ll be there in a second! Just gonna go get Eli’s medicine from the supplies…” Louis unconvincingly stated.

Louis waited until they went outside, a questioning look from Zayn, before he hissed, “You need to stop.”

Harry licked his lips subconsciously, staring at Louis’ own lips. “Stop what?”

“Stop advancing like a leopard about to eat a chimpanzee," Louis whispered.

“I’d eat you,” Harry blurted. “Eat you out that is. Fuck, can I?” he breathed.

Louis swore under his breath, adjusting himself in his pants as he said, “Okay fine, fine. Fuck. Just this one time.” Harry brightened, reaching out to grab Louis’ waist. “No eating out though right now, no time,” Louis hissed as he began pushing Harry backwards. Harry stumbled at the sudden momentum, his hands flailing as he attempted to steady himself against Louis’ onslaught.

“Let’s get this over with, and then we can move on.”

Harry woke up at that. “O—over with, why…” His breaths came out shakily as he was manhandled by Louis into a door, the handle dug sharply into the small of his back. 

“Because you are a distraction, and I cannot be distracted right now. I don’t _want_ to be distracted,” Louis breathed, reaching a hand around to grasp the door handle, the front of his body pressed tightly against Harry’s. Harry’s insides felt on fire, with blood frantically rushing both downwards to his groin and around his heart which was pounding out a staccato rhythm in his chest. He wondered if Louis could feel it, being pressed so close.

Harry began to fall backwards as the door gave way with a _click_ , but was held upright when both Louis’ hands came up to grip tightly at the front of his shirt, bunching it up within his fists.

They were in some sort of supply closet, the automatic lights flickered on after detecting their movement into the room. Harry didn’t have any time to consider the contents on the shelves as Louis suddenly pressed his lips to Harry’s. He immediately stilled before quietly groaning and pushing back. He tilted his head to avoid bumping noses as he began applying more pressure, reacting properly now after the surprise of Louis’ attack wasn’t as sudden. Harry reached up to cradle Louis’ head in his heads, running his fingers through the slicked back hair, as he pressed his lips harder in excitement.

Louis’ breath hitched before he let out a moan and parted his lips in response, a warm tongue flicking out to trail along Harry’s bottom lip. Harry kept his eyes open, whereas Louis closed his tightly. He watched his eyes flit behind closed lids, long eyelashes splayed against his cheek, and a slight flush high on the apples of his cheeks. _He’s so handsome_.

Harry must have stopped moving his lips because Louis opened his eyes and unclenched his fists from Harry’s shirt. Their lips separated with a soft smack and Louis licked his puffy lips before asking uncertainly, “What’s the matter? I thought you wanted…” Louis trailed off, beginning to take a step back.

Louis’ earlier words came back to his mind, _get this over with_ , and he woke up.

“No, I do, I do. It’s just, _you’re_ the one who’s distracting.” Harry lunged back at him, lips coming back forcefully against Louis’, their teeth clacking against one another in the process as Louis staggered backwards and Harry followed, propelling the two of them to the other side of the room. There’s not too far to go. Louis slammed against the vertical column of a shelf with a grunt. His eyes widened at the impact and he breathed harshly into Harry’s mouth, before relaxing and submitting to the lips against his.

As Harry kissed him, he grabbed each of Louis’ hands by encircling his index fingers and thumbs around each wrist, squeezing briefly before bringing them up quickly against the shelf near Louis’ head. Louis made a noise at the back of throat, tearing his mouth away from Harry’s.

“Ouch, careful, yeah?”

Harry ignored him. “Move on?” he mumbled as he moved his lips to Louis’ ear, scruff scratching against his cheek. “Why would I want to move on after a one off?” He trailed his lips down the side of Louis’ neck. “Moving on implies denying this, and why would I want to deny myself this?” Louis twitched, breath huffing against the side of Harry’s face. “Or, _move on_ , implies forgetting about it. I don’t want to forget, or for you to.” He bit down hard.

“Ahh— _fuck_ , Harry.”

Harry made a mess of the mark, laving his tongue over the skin, sucking, nibbling, biting. Louis’ hands jerked within his grasp as he tried to pull them free. Harry tightened his grip in response and thrusted hips slightly, seeking friction.

Louis’ head thudded against the metal shelf as he groaned lowly in his throat, his mouth parted and he panted lightly. Harry trailed his lips over to the other side of his neck, peppering kisses along the way. His hips continued to push against Louis’, as Louis weakly thrusted back, too out of it to properly reciprocate. Harry pushed forward and stayed there, hips beginning to undulate in shorter, faster thrusts. He surged back up to reconnect their lips again, lips wet and gliding over easily.

Harry was painfully hard, his cock throbbing in his pants. He suddenly let go of Louis’ hands and detached their lips, moving his fingers to scratch over Louis’ nipples briefly before dragging his hands down his torso towards the button of Louis’ jeans. Louis sucked in a breath at Harry’s movements, his hands coming up to Harry’s elbows before sliding up to his biceps and squeezing them in response to feeling the drag of his zipper downwards. “Harry.”

“Mmm.” He flicked the sides of Louis’ lab coat as he pushed his jeans and briefs down past his bum to pool at his ankles. His hands glided over Louis’ curves, but he bypassed the tempting flesh in favour of the cock that sprung up upon release from its confinement. Long and curved, the head red as Harry trailed a finger over a raised vein which made Louis inhale sharply.

“You. You too,” he gasped out.

Harry raised his head to gaze at him fervently. He ignored him as he wrapped his hand around the length and gave him a dry tug.

Louis’ eyes slipped closed, and the hands on Harry’s biceps tightened in reaction before one suddenly left its place and crashed into the contents on the shelf. Harry startled at the sound, his grip tightening in reflex around Louis’ cock and Louis moaned louder, thrusting his hips further into Harry’s grip.

Harry’s eyes followed the line of Louis’ arm to where it was trying to grab something off the shelf. He pressed his body closer when Louis tried to shift out from underneath to grasp at a bottle. Harry watched his struggle with a sort of malicious glee, as he tried to reach the bottle, but was unwilling to move too far from Harry’s hand around his cock.

Louis moaned as Harry continued to stroke him, one last stretch of his torso succeeded in him gripping the bottle and thrusting it in Harry’s face.

“Use this for lube,” he panted out.

Harry blinked at the label ‘Vet Gel.’ “Ehmm, is this used for ultrasounds?”

“Yeah, it’s the gel, and it’s—it’s, water based, so it’ll be fine,” Louis stammered.

Harry shoved his pants down just far enough to free his aching cock, and flicked open the cap, removing his hand from Louis’ cock which garnered a whine at the loss. Harry squeezed a glob of gel onto his fingers, warming it up and bringing his hand down again, this time gripping both their cocks in his hand. They both moaned at the sensation, the gel providing a slick glide and with a squeeze of Harry’s hand, the desired friction.

Harry watched their cocks slide together, they varied in colour and size slightly, but he thought that the differences were aesthetically pleasing, and would make for a good contrast photo—

A sudden kiss interrupted his thought process as Louis panted harshly into his mouth, "Harder, c'mon, Harry."

Harry ignored him again, even taunting him by loosening his grip on their cocks, the only touch now was their cocks rubbing against one another. Louis let out a pitiful moan of frustration. He reached a hand up to continue where Harry left off, but Harry batted his hand away and pressed his crotch directly into Louis' while at the same time ducking down to suck a nipple into his mouth through the t-shirt. He laved his tongue over the hardened bud, drawing a muttered curse from the mouth above.

Louis' hands slipped down to grip at Harry's bum, pushing the jeans and underwear further down for easier access. He squeezed a globe in each hand roughly and pulled Harry's lower half further into the crease of his legs.

Harry grunted at the rough movement, flexing his butt cheeks under the squeezing fingers. Louis squeezed even tighter in reaction, and Harry moaned, there were probably going to be little finger imprints left behind now, maybe even bruises if he was lucky. Louis seemed to catch on to Harry's enjoyment of the rough treatment, for one hand left its grip and came down in a swift smack, then squeezing the now flared up area.

Harry's lips faltered on the abused nipple he had been tending to, his cock twitched and a blurt of pre come drizzled out of the tip. His arse was beginning to feel on fire, and he realized that he was losing the upper hand here. He needed to blow Louis away completely so that it would encourage him to want to continue these activities. _Tonight, tomorrow, f—_

Louis smacked the same cheek again and Harry jolted into action by gripping their cocks again and jerking them furiously for a few glorious seconds, twisting his wrist on the downstroke, catching his thumb on the slit of Louis' cock head. Louis' hands faltered on his bum and his head tipped back in pleasure. A healthy flush was working its way down his neck and disappearing into the scoop of his t-shirt. Despite the chilly temperature of the room, sweat had begun to bead on his forehead and the heavy lab coat he was still wearing wasn’t doing him any favours.

Harry reach a hand down to fondle Louis' balls, they were heavy and tight, and he played with them briefly, tugging gently and then rolling them between fingers.

He was panting heavily in time to Louis' own stuttering breaths. His cock was aching, the tension in his abdomen was beginning to build up. He stroked their cocks faster with the hopes of both of them reaching their climax together.

“Harry—oh," Louis moaned, hips jerking forward eagerly in little punches to glide his cock through Harry's hand. "I'm close, so close, ah fuck." His head banged against the column again, his eyes slipping shut.

"Look at me," Harry commanded.

Blue eyes blinked open, a sheen of hazy arousal clouded the normally bright colour. Louis tipped his head up and met Harry's gaze.

Harry leaned forward into his space and they breathed in each other's warm breaths. Their lips touching briefly when their bodies swayed involuntarily with the force of Harry's quick hand. Harry's other hand reached up to press into Louis' abdomen, rubbing a thumb reverently under his navel.

Louis connected their lips again with a hand in his curls tugging him forward. It wasn't really a proper kiss, just a press of their wet, slick lips.

Harry felt Louis jerk underneath his hands, and felt, before he heard, a low grunt from Louis and then warmth as Louis spurted all over the hand that held them. He jerked him through his orgasm, then maneuvered his hand to swipe up some of Louis' come that was on his own lower abdomen to add to the mess of the slick lube on his cock. He didn't pick up Louis' cock again, but ensured that his knuckles grazed his now spent cock as he furiously worked himself off.

The tell tale pull in his abdomen drew a groan from him and he pressed his forehead into Louis' neck, licking at the salty skin and then—

“Louis? Are you in there?”

 _Nonono_. He chased his orgasm, his senses heightened as he waited to see what would happen, the hair on the back of his neck prickled. He felt Louis freeze in his arms.

“Y—yeah, what’s up? Jus—just looking for…something,” he stammered out.

Harry's hands continued to stroke, long and slow this time, edging himself off instead of the fast pumps from a few seconds ago.

“We’re thinking of going down to the alcove after we feed the chimps. You wanna come?”

Harry pressed a light kiss to the bare shoulder that had been revealed him to him in the jostle of their movements.

“Yeah, o—kay.” Louis breathed.

“Okay, I’m going to go ask Harry.”

The sound of Liam's footsteps retreating lessened, and Harry kissed Louis hard, coming undone with a tight tug on the head of his cock, his stomach contracting with the pull of his orgasm. "Ahh. Fuck," he breathed out, his chest heaving and his warm release mixed with the gel and Louis' come.

They both stilled as they tried to regain their breathing, Harry twitching with aftershocks. After a moment, he pressed forward, nudging his hips against Louis’ softening cock, his still a bit hard.

Louis hissed, “Too sensitive, stop.” He battled a hand weakly against his chest, but Harry didn’t budge, relishing in the heady feeling of over sensitivity on his cock. He shivered lightly.

He trailed his fingertips up Louis’ sides, pressing a kiss at the base of his throat, and warm breath filtered over the side of Harry’s head. Harry pressed forwards again a few times, then held Louis' cock in a lose grip, sliding his hand up and over the head, causing Louis to jerk.

“Ah—Harry.”

He swiped a thumb over the slit, back and forth, the tacky lube and come hadn't dried completely yet, and made for an easy glide. He smeared it down the length in a rougher grip, and Louis tried to buck his hips away from the sensation, but Harry used his upper body to hold him in place.

Louis groaned low in his throat. “Stop,” he said weakly. “I can’t go again.”

“Shh.” Harry shushed him, continuing to tug his fingers over the skin while pressing kisses along his slightly sweaty neck. Harry inhaled the musky smell, feeling delirious with it infiltrating his nose. It made him feel primal, the heady feeling of finally being with Louis was making his brain turn to mush, and he wanted to commit every touch, sound, and smell to his memory.

He knelt down, pressing a single kiss to the centre of his torso, then a kiss to Louis’ navel and the light happy trail that led downwards. He bypassed the now semi-hard cock, his mouth filling with saliva at the thought of wrapping his lips around the head— _another time_. He pressed a kiss into a meaty thigh, which was shaking slightly against the overstimulation, as he grasped the top of Louis pants and pulled them up. Louis made little noises of protest against his movements, but made no effort to help him.

He settled the jeans around his waist, tucking his cock back into his briefs, doing up the button, and giving his lovely cock a little pat over the jeans, to which Louis twitched. He stood up and fluffed his hair out and pulled up his own pants, adjusting himself and trying to recreate some semblance of order. It wasn’t working, Louis still looked fucked out with the tips of his fringe sticking slightly to his damp forehead, his eyes glassy, and his now swollen lips were cherry coloured.

Harry stepped forward, pressing his entire body against the length of Louis', and placed two kisses in quick succession to the parted lips, the reaction from Louis was delayed but slight pressure was returned as he begun to wake up out of his lethargic state.

Before Louis could say anything to him, Harry grabbed his hand and went to pull him out of the closet. Louis woke up further at the movements and yanked his hand from Harry’s just before exiting the room.

“Wait, let me go out first, make sure the coast is clear.” He pushed past Harry, laying a hand on his arm and pushing him gently out of the way.

Harry raised an eyebrow. “Why does it matter who knows? I didn’t peg you for the type to hide,” Harry accused.

Louis shot him a glare. “I‘m not. I’d just rather not deal with accusing questions from Liam or Zayn if he’s around, about why the two of us are coming out of the closet together.”

A startled laugh escaped Harry at the word choice.

Louis rolled his eyes, a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “You know what I mean. They’re nosy bastards and what I do on my own time is my business alone.”

“Well. Mine now too, I hope,” Harry said.

Louis clucked a tongue and said, “Yeah about that—”

Harry shot forward. “Don’t.” He gripped Louis' waist with his hands tightly, pressing his forehead against Louis’. "Don't shut me out. We both want this, so why not?"

Louis sighed like it was a great burden to be having sex with him. Their eyes met, Harry's silently pleading, and Louis' a wall crumbling in acceptance. Louis gave a slight jerk of his head in a nod, and Harry kissed him, slow and languidly.

He broke the kiss after a minute and then popped the collar of Louis' lab coat, smoothing his hands down over his shoulders and nodding in satisfaction at the look.

Louis held his hands out. "Am I presentable?"

Harry tried not to grin, no, Louis looked fucked out. "Yeah you're good."

Louis opened the door with a tentative peek of his head out the side and when the room was declared safe, they exited with an air of innocence. Well. Harry was smug and Louis looked nervous.

Zayn wandered into the room from somewhere in the hallway. "Oh, Harry's here with Louis."

"What? I was just in there, no he wasn’t—" Liam trailed off as he followed behind Zayn. Zayn who had folded his arms across his chest and was staring at the two of them with a smirk on his face.

"Ohh, he is here. Harry, you wanna come to the alcove?" Liam asked.

"I don't know what that is, but I'm assuming it's something fun so sure." Harry shrugged his shoulders.

Liam was completely oblivious to the silent communication between Zayn and Louis, and the way Harry kept shifting his feet closer towards Louis.

"Excellent, I'm sure one of us will have a pair of trunks here you can borrow. Let's go find one."

"Good idea! I should go...get changed too." Louis made to follow Harry, pressing a hand on his lower back in a gentle push.

They walked past Zayn, who turned around at the last second and said, "Oh and by the way…Eli’s medicine was already in the bottle in the fridge. And your spunk’s seeping through your pants.”

Harry had wondered when Louis was going to realize Harry hadn't cleaned them up. Louis blanched and muttered a curse while attempting to smack Harry's shoulder. He dodged it with a sidestep and smothered his laughter into his hand, dancing out of the room after Liam.

For the first time since arriving to the facility, the boat they were on finally made it up to third gear. The wind rushed through Harry's hair, whipping back and forth across his face as the boat bounced through the water. He kept a tight grip on his camera in his lap, he should have put it in the knapsack which was sitting on the floor in the middle of the boat. He hadn't known that the boat could even get up to third gear and had planned to take photos. But. Perhaps not in this wind.

They were going fairly fast for a small speedboat, but upon looking at Liam behind the wheel, he seemed at ease with the boat's capability. A picture of intense concentration, standing up behind the wheel with sunglasses and a simple T-shirt over his swim trunks, a stoic expression as he glanced out on the water.

_"'I'm flying Jack!'"_

Harry snorted, looking up to the front where Niall was perched on his knees with his arms outstretched over the edge. His head was turned back to look at the men's reaction. Louis barked a laugh and aimed a kick at the backs of Niall's knees.

"There's no Jack here for you Rose. You'll need to call up Gabriella to come act out your roleplay!" Louis shouted over the roar of the wind.

Harry smiled. Niall was still going on about Gabriella, who was apparently part of the dancing troupe at the bar the other night and had been texting with Niall ever since.

"Ohh, do you think she would?" Niall asked.

Harry almost couldn't tell if he was seriously asking or deadpanning. It seemed Louis was quite uncertain as well for he stuttered over a laugh and Zayn eyed him wearily in silent judgement.

Harry was about to ask whether Niall wanted to be Rose or Jack in that fantasy but the boat suddenly swerved along the curve of the river and Harry fought along the pull of its momentum by gripping the edge tightly. Niall fell over and Louis gripped his ankle tightly, while Zayn sat behind Liam and merely leaned in the opposite direction that the boat wanted him to go in.

The knapsacks rolled along and Harry kicked a foot out to catch at the handles. They had packed towels, lunches, boots, and at Harry's insistence, sunscreen, to take to the alcove. Harry hadn’t been told what it was exactly, but he guessed it was some sort of hidden treasure in the rainforest. Since arriving almost a week ago now, he had yet to venture anywhere else besides the islands, so he was excited to see what the wildlife was like.

The boat sped down the river, leaving behind Bebe Island by at least a few kilometres. The walls of green hid from view anything lurking behind it, creating the illusion of an ominous rainforest. The river was empty, the only activity their speeding boat and a few birds that flew above their heads.

Liam finally slowed down and Harry tried to untangle his matted hair. He shook his head in a vain attempt, wincing when his fingers caught a knot.

"Here." Louis leaned forward and batted Harry's hand out of the way. He dropped his hand to his lap and dutifully held still when he felt Louis gently card his fingers through his hair. Once the last strand was untangled, he waved an impatient hand in front of Harry's face.

"What?"

"Give me your band."

Harry rolled off the hair tie and held it between his fingers, letting Louis grab it and roll it halfway up his hand. He gathered all of Harry's hair up and twisted it all into a bun, pulling it together with the hair tie.

"There. Lesson learned, don't wear your hair down while on a boat. Jeeze curly."

Harry warmed at the nickname. "Thanks Louis, but why would I do that when I know now that you’ll play with my hair?" He grinned impishly at him.

Louis tugged on the bun and Harry playfully moaned, slipping his eyes shut and Louis gripped the bun tighter and leaned into Harry's ear to growl, "I'll have none of that cheekiness." Then pushed him away.

Harry floundered at the reaction Louis' growl evoked in him. His eyes widened and he swallowed the instant arousal that rose in his chest. He shifted on the bench under the heat of Louis' intense stare.

They were both broken out of their bubble as the front of the boat suddenly jolted against a shore line and the drag against the ground could be felt from underneath. Liam kicked the engine and jumped down directly into the water with a splash, tugging the boat with him to secure its position in the dirt.

They were on the bank of a wall of trees, the ground beneath them muddy from a small run off creek that led directly into the rainforest.

Niall chucked a knapsack at Harry, not mindful of his camera so Harry squawked in protest and shoved him out of the boat. Niall nearly fell over laughing but righted himself with only a muddy hand for his efforts. He tried to shove the hand in Harry’s face, but Harry blanched and jumped out of the boat on the other side.

“You fuck with my camera, I’ll fuck with you.” He pointed a stern finger at Niall and narrowed his eyes.

Niall simply laughed and shucked the excess mud off his hand, then wiped the rest on a nearby tree.

“That tree’s leaves are poisonous,” Zayn stated, climbing out of the boat with a simple hop and landing on the grassy bank, away from the mud.

Niall yelped with a jump back from the tree, just as Louis said, “No it’s not, Zayn’s being an idiot.”

Zayn’s face scrunched up into a laugh, and he dodged Niall’s incoming hand with a jog straight into the rainforest. Niall chased him, and Louis yanked Harry’s hand forward to leave a petulant and shouty Liam behind.

There was a path that Zayn seemed to be following, only slightly trampled down by usage. The ground was soft underfoot, the atmosphere warm and damp, and unidentifiable sounds from creatures floated in the air. The leaves rustled in disturbance as the men pushed through, twigs snapping under the pressure of their boots, and fuzzy moss that clung to the trees brushed underneath Harry’s fingertips.

He heard Liam jog up behind him, carrying the remaining knapsacks that the others had neglected to grab on their way into the forest.

“Thanks boys,” Liam huffed.

Harry turned around to take a bag from Liam, then pulled Louis’ arm backwards slightly to slip on one strip, poking him in the shoulder for the other arm, Louis huffed, but complied. Harry swung the bag to settle properly on his well defined back that teased him through the tank top. He patted it lightly and gave Louis a little shove forward.

Louis stopped mid step and shoved his bum out, wiggling it enticingly and Harry leaned over to pinch flesh between his fingers. Louis jumped and yelped, darting forward in a jog and yanking Niall off to the side so he could get past him.

Harry grinned and took off after him, dodging branches and bypassing rocks that jutted out. He heard an 'oii!' As he jostled Niall, and Zayn merely stepped off to the side to allow him by.

He caught up to Louis, looping an arm around his waist and nuzzling his face into the back of his neck, inhaling the musky smell of both the spray from the water, the rainforest, and the sweat that was distinctly him. Louis laughed airily and tilted his head back in a gentle head butt.

"You're so different right now," Harry breathed.

Louis craned his head to look at him, his eyebrows twitching. "How so?"

"Not in a bad way," Harry reassured him, reaching out to smooth down the wrinkle formed between his eyes. "Just, I dunno. Happier. Relaxed."

Louis' features softened. “Yeah, suppose I am.” He gave a small grin.

“Hey lads! You went too far!”

Harry nearly stumbled at the interruption, Louis’ hands coming up to his biceps to steady himself. Harry recovered and flexed his arms obnoxiously underneath Louis’ hands, waggling his eyebrows.

Louis puckered his lips in a smothered grin, craning his head around to look at the others.

Harry heard Zayn shout out, “Liammm,” he drew out the name, “I can’t remember which way!”

Louis tugged Harry’s hand. “C’mon, we don’t wanna get lost in here. We’ll never hear the end of it if we do.”

They trudged back, and Liam turned down a slightly less used path.

They hiked for a few more minutes, Harry too enthralled with his surroundings to really pay attention to where they were going. Despite the overwhelming amount of green vegetation from all sides, there was so much to look at.

Different types of flowers spurting out from the ground tried to dominate one another for growth space, while others trailed along the length of the ground and spread out like a hazy mist, covering every inch in any direction.

There were scattered dripping noises, liquid dripping off a branch, creating a repetitive underlying background noise on top of the sparse chattering from various animals.

The group stopped walking again, and Liam came down from the front of the line to tug at Harry’s shirt. "Harry c'mere. You go through first."

Harry felt Louis place a gentle hand on his lower back to push him, the others all staring expectantly, waiting for him to take the lead.

"What, are we going to Narnia?" he joked, then frowned as he walked toward a veil of tree branches hanging low. It looked like a door, a barrier that was hiding something away in the middle of the rainforest.

Harry’s ears perked as he finally registered another noise in the rainforest’ soundtrack. It was something that sounded like the buzzing of a million bees, coming from beyond the veil. He wasn't sure that's what was making the noise, but the sound increased the closer he walked towards it. He glanced back at the others to see that they had stepped forward with him and all had secretive smiles.

He took a step forward into the brush, lifting gently the first barrier of branches, and needing to weave through a whole bushel before revealing the mystery behind. He finally identified the sound: the roaring of crashing water.

It was like stepping into a whole other world. Behind them they left a darker, dense underbrush, and in front was a canopy split wide open. Where the trees thinned out to reveal a pond surrounded by a bank of rocks. He looked up to see a slope of rocks jutting out to create stepping stones leading up to the top where water rushed down in a white curtain. The pond filled up from the cascading waterfall which fell in what seemed like slow motion. The water crashed into the pond, creating a funnel of swirling blue, fading out into smaller ripples the further away from the base of the waterfall.

The sun shone down through the opening of the canopy of trees. Gone was the thickness of tree branches overlapping one another in their quest for space. Some branches still lingered over like reaching fingers, waving in the gentle wind created by the waterfall.

"How did you find this place?" Harry breathed as he walked further into the alcove.

Liam answered, "I did. One day back a few months ago maybe? We were cleaning up after a hunter group made camp one night and left behind a mess, I happened to be a little further away from the group when I heard the rushing of water and went to investigate. Came back and told the others about it and ever since it's been our thing. Jumping off that is."

“You want me to jump…off the cliff?” Harry confirmed, his voice catching on the word ‘cliff.’ It wasn’t that he was afraid per se, more apprehensive, his heart thrumming in anticipation.

“Yeah, the water’s deep enough, you’ll be fine. Just make sure you jump out far enough from the top,” Niall encouraged.

Harry looked upwards. In all honesty it wasn’t even that high, maybe ten to twelve metres. But it was the rushing sound of the cascading waterfall and the sight of the rocks jutting out at the base that gave it an illusion of _danger._

Liam and Louis had already begun scrambling up the right side, dropping off their knapsacks and hastily pulling their boots off into a pile on some drier rocks away from the waterfall. The rocks in their path were visibly slippery slopes, but it didn't deter them, but rather egged them on. Zayn gave a long suffering sigh, before proceeding after them.

Harry looked surprised, “You’ll jump off?”

Zayn looked backwards at him briefly, “No, I just do the climb.”

Niall gave him a little shove. “Well go on, newbies hafta do it.” He yanked the camera from around Harry’s neck and held it up in front of him, the lens poised at the face of the cliff.

Harry looked down to the camera, that back up to Niall’s face. “Do you know how to use it?”

Niall rolled his eyes. “I think I can figure it out, now stop stalling.”

“Suit yourself,” Harry grumbled, tearing his shirt off, and kicking off his boots before turning to follow Zayn.

Unlike Liam and Louis who made a mad rush to climb up to the top, Zayn and Harry took their time. He followed Zayn’s path for the most part, crouched over for proper balance and hands splayed out to catch his fall should he slip on one of the rocks. The splash from the falling water hitting down below made the rocks unstable, slippery, with no friction under their feet. Even taking off their shoes hadn’t helped all that much.

Branches jutted out on the sides from trees that folded over into the cliff’s space which Harry debated using for leverage. He yanked on one, but it snapped under the pressure of his grip and Harry gave a yelp as his balance was temporarily distorted.

Zayn’s head whipped around at his noise and he came back down the couple of steps that he was ahead to grab onto Harry’s flailing hand and stabilize him.

“Thanks,” Harry muttered breathlessly.

“Don’t use the trees,” Zayn stated.

Harry stared at him balefully and held a thumb’s up. “Noted.”

A _whoop_ was shouted from somewhere above and they craned their necks to see that Louis had reached the summit first, standing on top of a rock with arms outstretched and hands clenched into fists, his stature stating, _I’m on top of the world!_

Harry closed his eyes at the sudden dizziness and nervousness, pausing momentarily in his tracks to regain a sense of vision. He remained where he was to watch what Louis would do.

Louis looked down at Harry briefly, then with running legs, leapt off the edge, reaching forwards for the branches that hung over the cliff, his hand scraping through it’s leaves, but leaving them untouched. A few leaves leaves trickled down anyways in its disturbance, trying to catch up to the culprit as they floated down. Speed took Louis further down first, and he plummeted towards the water with falling limbs and a joyous shout.

Harry’s eyes followed Louis down to the splash of him hitting the water, which was almost as loud as the waterfall. His head resurfaced a few seconds later with a flick to remove the excess water, and he began treading water.

Zayn had left Harry in his spot and climbed up to the top already. Harry scrambled after him with a soft _‘oh shit’,_ nearly slipping to his doom a few more times before finally joining him and Liam.

“Y’alright?” Zayn gestured at him with a smirk, and Harry just grunted a reply of heavy panting and a thrown up thumb.

“Okay, okay, I’m gonna jump. I’m gonna do it.” Liam braced himself, bouncing in place and shaking his hands out in nervousness.

“Just do it man,” Zayn egged.

Liam shot him a glare. “Says the one who’s not jumping at all.”

“C’mon Payno!” A shout resounded from down below, losing its echo into the dense brush and the rushing water.

Harry leaned over slightly to look down, his stomach dropped at the height and he swallowed thickly. Louis had swam further away from the base of the cliff and was waving an impatient arm up at them. Niall stood off to the side, Harry’s camera angled upwards.

“You always do this Liam, and you’re fine each time after!” Louis shouted.

“Shut up Tommo! It doesn’t make it any easier, I need to brace myself!”

Louis scoffed and began floating on his back, moving his hands in a circular motion to avoid drifting downstream with the momentum of the creek.

Harry looked back to Zayn, who had a fond smile on his face watching Liam huff exaggeratedly through clenched teeth. Harry brushed aside his slightly damp hair from the fall’s spray, and knelt over, bracing an arm on his thigh as he waited for Liam to jump.

He heard the chattering of some animal from behind him somewhere in the brush, and he whipped his head around to spot the creature. He couldn't see anything save for leaves swaying in the creature's hasty departure.

He was distracted and missed Liam’s jump, but looked back towards him at his ecstatic shout and caught the end of the leap, watching Liam disappear into the water below. Zayn stood with his fist jutted into the air in celebration, the other hand he extended towards Harry, curving his fingers upwards in a gesture for him to step up to the rock.

Harry heard multiple splashes from down below, presumably from Liam and Louis engaging in some sort of water fight as he climbed up the remaining rocks to stand beside Zayn.

He panted slightly in exertion, from the combination of the climb and the heat. He planted his hands on his hips as he tried not to look down.

“Dunno if I can do this.”

Zayn nudged him with a shoulder. “Sure you can. You seem the type to face their fears.”

_Not really._

“Maybe not,” he mumbled in lieu of a better reply.

“Harry!” Niall’s shout echoed to the top.

Harry peeked out over the edge, his heart drumming in his chest in as he looked down at Niall.

Niall held the camera up in the air and waggled it. “Jump! Jump!”

The other two joined the chant, their voices louder each time they shouted. Then Zayn’s voice merged, quieter, accompanied by a small fist pump after each rendition.

He looked beside him to the water rushing to the edge, the stream unable to do anything else except fall due to gravity, his eyes zeroed in on the speed of it, and spike of panic shot through his chest.

Drawing a deep breath and looking away from the stream as his heart jackrabbited, he closed his eyes and took a running leap.

His eyes flew open the second he left the rock, his body flailing, and the air whooshing through his limbs. He tried to control his waving arms and legs, but turned his attention to the water looming closer.

He plunged into the barely cool water, an army of bubbles erupting and tickling his sides. His toe brushed something at the bottom and he frantically flapped his arms to propel himself towards the surface.

He broke through with a gasp, only to be immediately submerged again with a tackle from Louis. He came back up sputtering and treading water.

Niall was laughing hysterically. “You should have seen your body.” He imitated Harry’s flailing arms, and wobbled around on the rock. “I got it all! A great series of photos mate.”

Harry moaned and sank back under the water to pull out his bun. He resurfaced and flicked his hair over, shaking his head lightly, and drawing a hand across his face to rid the excess water.

He treaded water in front of Louis, a mirror image of him as they stared at one another. Harry’s heart rate wasn’t quite calm yet.

“So? Was it as bad as you thought it was going to be?” Louis asked.

“I think I peed a little.”

Louis threw his head back in a laugh. “Didn’t know you were into that sort of thing.” His eyes twinkled mischievously.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about what I’m into yet.” Harry waggled his eyebrows. “Wanna find out?”

Louis smirked. “I think you like it a bit rough,” he stated, parting his lips and Harry felt an accidental kick to his foot from the two of them unknowingly floating closer together as they treaded water.

Harry tilted his head as if in consideration but Louis reached out and gripped Harry’s wrist and squeezed.

Harry’s eyes flickered with arousal. “Mmm yeah, a bit—bit rough is good.”

Louis yanked downwards on his wrist and Harry went face first into the water, sputtering in surprise. He righted himself and splashed Louis directly in the face.

Niall suddenly cannonballed right beside them into the water and Harry swam away from the commotion, laughing while trying not to inhale the water.

He heard the slap of skin which elicited a yelp from somewhere behind him. Liam had waded over to the side that Zayn was now trekking down from. He looked even more hesitant on his way down, careful of his steps.

Liam made a movement forward when one of Zayn’s feet slipped on a rock, but he forcibly held himself back, biting his lip as he watched on.

Harry swam up to him and gave him a knowing grin when Liam reached up to tug on Zayn’s ankle when he finally reached the bottom. Liam frowned, not understanding and looked up at Zayn.

“You okay?”

Zayn nodded. “Yeah man, I’m good.” He reached his hands behind his head to tug off his shirt, revealing an expanse of slim torso.

Liam’s cheeks pinked up and he released Zayn's ankle as if he'd been burned, turning his gaze to Harry’s. Zayn clambered down to the edge of the rock and dangled his feet into the water.

Niall had brought a volleyball with them, and they bumped it back and forth in the shallower end of the pond, where they could stand and move easily, then dive into the water in an attempt to bump it back to the other side. They continued to roughhouse for the afternoon, taking the chance to cool down in the humid weather, the water cool enough to dissipate lingering sweat and stuffy heads.

Zayn seemed to flourish in the heat though, he never made a move to enter the water, choosing instead to lie back on the rock and soak up the sun, the spray from the waterfall enough to keep him cool.

With a loud _smack!_ Liam accidentally bumped the ball too far and it went flying somewhere into the rainforest.

"Payno!" Louis bellowed.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll go find it." Liam hopped up effortlessly onto the rock and darted off into the brush.

The game was declared over when Liam didn't immediately return, the sound of muffled curses evidence to the ball being truly lost, so Harry moved to float on his back. The sun beamed down on him so he closed his eyes and let the ripples from the waterfall push him.

The combined sensations of the sounds and the gentle water made Harry dangerously sleepy. It was only when he felt a jagged edge of a rock suddenly dig into his calf that he stood up to shake himself out of his reverie.

He scanned the pond, his eyes following the lithe body moving through the water and disappearing through the waterfall.

Harry dove under the water and glided towards the waterfall, resurfacing to follow Louis into the falling water, which drenched his entire body. He shook his head to rid the excess water, flipping his hair over with a hand.

Louis was crouched, submerged almost fully underwater, save for the top half of his head. His nose was just above the water, and his eyes followed Harry's movement to him.

The water behind the waterfall was shallower, and Harry was able to stand and walk along the rocks under his feet with his head and some of his torso above the water.

He reached Louis and sunk down so that he was eye level with Louis, the water tickling his chin. They stared at one another in silence until Harry murmured, "Wanna kiss you." He trailed his fingertips along Louis' waist. A drop of water had beaded on his upper lip, and Harry was tempted to lean forward and lick it off.

Louis tilted his chin up so that his mouth was above the water. "I dunno," Louis teased. "You left me all hot and bothered earlier, even after getting me off. I'm not sure you deserve it." Harry pinched the flesh beneath his fingers and Louis jerked, then more seriously said, "It didn't do anything to sate us. Did it?"

Harry shook his head sombrely. "No. But let's not worry about it right now, yeah?" he insisted.

Louis nodded and raised a cupped hand full of water, pouring it gently down the side of Harry's head. Harry stared at him owlishly, unsure of what Louis' was doing, but accepting of any form of touch from him nonetheless.

Harry tilted his head to let the water drip down, and Louis fisted his hands into the curls and roughly brought Harry forward into a kiss.

Harry went easily, bracing himself against the impact by placing his hand on the rock wall behind Louis. He cradled Louis' head in the other hand to tilt the kiss in his favour.

He could taste the water from the creek, slightly musky, but fresh, a bit of salt lingered from the perspiration that had built up from Louis roughhousing earlier. Harry eagerly licked it up, a small groan tumbling from his lips when Louis' tongue met his.

He felt hands encircle his waist, gripping at his hips and pulling him in closer. Harry went willingly, floating easily in the swell of the water. The waterfall behind him roared in his ears along with his rushing blood. The backsplash from the waterfall hitting his lower back added to the overwhelming sensations his body was experiencing.

Louis broke the kiss. "God you're so—” he cut himself off with a small shake of his head.

"I'm so what?" Harry asked in between pressing kisses along the side of Louis' neck.

"You just make me feel so much," Louis answered with a thick swallow.

Harry lifted his head at the serious comment. "Is this a bad thing?" he asked.

Louis made a little frustrated noise. "Yes. No. I don't know. Kiss me."

Harry couldn't deny him. He reconnected their lips, then licked along the seam of Louis' lips, seeking permission.

Louis granted him access while at the same time ran his hands along Harry's torso, scratching his fingernails across his hardened nipples. Harry's hips stuttered forward at the sensation that shot down through his abdomen and he moaned loudly.

The kiss turned heated, with both men eager to press harder. The sounds Louis made in the back of his throat only served to further egg Harry on. He became lost to their own little world behind the waterfall, only to be suddenly yanked back into reality when the waterfall got louder and something crashed through.

Or rather, someone. They both startled at the disruption, their lips unlocking and Harry whipped around to face the intruder. He was doused with a splash of water and heard, "Oi! Don't be doing the nasty back here. We can still see you."

Niall's voice registered in his ears as he wiped a hand across his face, spitting out some of the water that had lodged into his mouth.

"You wear glasses Niall, are you sure you can see properly right now?"

"I'm not blind you twat."

"You're a twat," Louis mumbled begrudgingly.

Niall flipped him off and threw himself dramatically out of the waterfall backwards, his feet coming up out of the water and splashing them.

They were both too slow to turn their backs, and had to spit out the water, coughing slightly. They looked at one another and just laughed. Harry moved forward and pecked Louis on the lips, lingering slightly with the tease of a promise to deepen it later.

 

Then the rain came down in sheets.

A torrential downpour the next afternoon kept everyone indoors avoiding the storm. Harry had arrived to Bebe early in the morning to feed the chimps breakfast with Zayn, and then sat with Liam putting together puzzles with whichever chimp wanted to join in.

He and Louis hadn't kissed since behind the waterfall yesterday. There had been a few small moments of opportunity throughout the day that Louis hadn’t taken, which made Harry frown. He tried to approach Louis, but received scattered responses and the bare minimum of participation in conversation, choosing instead to work on paperwork inside. Even Eli had looked put out.

He wasn’t sure why Louis was acting odd, it made Harry anxious, wondering why the sudden change of heart. His only guess was that could have something to do with maintaining a level of professionalism.

Which, Harry understood, he was the epitome of professionalism himself (usually), but after finally getting to experience being with Louis, with it only to be denied now, he was becoming _frustrated._

He looked up over his hand of cards, chewing his lip furiously, then glanced back down to his pair of queens, pair of twos, and the lonely ace. He had been aiming for a full house, but it looked like he had taken too much of a risk and was now possibly going to lose.

He looked around the ironically, circular table. Similar to a scene in a movie, the lights were dimmed and the small round table provided an intimate setting. All that was missing was the cigar smoke, whiskey, and high piles of cash.

Since being confined indoors for the rest of the evening, they were currently playing poker and betting on a list of jobs that needed to be completed tomorrow to clean up after the storm. At the beginning of the game, Louis had written the tasks down on little slips of paper and distributed them around to the group.

A flash of lightening illuminated the room further, the crash of thunder echoing around the building shortly after caused Harry to flinch and his eyes darted to the ceiling.

"The storm's getting pretty bad out there, there’s no way Patrick’s going out on the water.” Liam shook his head emphatically.

“Does that mean I’m stuck here for the night?” Harry asked.

Louis twitched slightly. "I don't think there's any clean bedrooms."

"We'll find something, in the meantime, let's hope the storm doesn't take the power out.”

Niall held up his phone like a beacon and waved his arm around. “I don’t have any service.” He frowned.

"Did you know that lightning strikes the most in the Democratic of the Republic out of anywhere else in the world?" Zayn offered. “You’d be mad to go out there right now."

“Good thing we’re in the _Republic of the Congo_ then.” Louis sent him a withered stare.

Zayn glared at him in response. “We’re close enough.”

Harry turned to look out the window, the light of day disappearing due to not only nighttime approaching, but also to the dark storm clouds that loomed ominously over the island. The rain had started falling earlier in the late afternoon, and now a few hours later, it didn't seem to be letting up anytime soon. The trees swayed violently in the harsh wind which also pushed the rain angrily against the windowpanes.

"Will the chimps be alright?" Harry inquired, turning to look at Louis.

"Yeah they're in the indoor bunks, and then on Tchindzoulou some will go into the barracks, but most of them choose to take their own cover. S'what they would do in the wild right? It's just a storm, animals know how to defend themselves, we can't always control chaos."

Harry blinked at the memory that the word evoked.

_Chaos, the boat was utter chaos._

_In the midst of discovering the location of one of the ships, Harry had been unable to let go of the impending pregnancy. He was trying hard to put it out of his mind, but he seemed incapable of speaking normally to both Claire and David. Everytime he was faced with either one of them, he suffered through stilted conversations, and sad looks from the two of them. He knew he was throwing himself a pity party, but in his defence, they had chosen to unwisely share with the news_ while _they were working. So he decided to be professional and throw himself into the work by focusing on the task at hand of documenting the archaeologists' find._

_However, the excitement of the archaeologists had suddenly been marred by an epic snowstorm. Crew members were scrambling to pull up all underwater cameras and prepare the boat to fight against the storm. Harry was finally stuck alone with David and Claire underneath the deck, as they couldn't provide much help._

_Harry had been busying himself by editing photographs, but David kept periodically interrupting by forcing him to write up more sections of the article than he usually did._

_By the sixth paragraph that he had written, and with only two finished, edited photographs, Harry had finally had enough. "David, what are you doing?"_

_"Hmmm? What do you mean." He blinked innocently, placing down the notebook in front of him._

_Harry tapped the blank page. "Why do you keep getting me to write, I'm trying to do the photos right now."_

_David flipped a hand, "Claire can do them, put them on a USB and transfer them over."_

_Harry shifted his gaze to Claire who staring intently at the screen of her laptop._

_Harry held a hand out. "I took them, I might as well edit them, but I can't seem to get through more than two photographs without you bugging me, what is the prob_ — _”_

_"Because you need to get into the habit of doing the articles yourself!" David finally burst out, his hands held out in exasperation._

_Harry’s lips thinned. He swallowed thickly. "Why, because you're leaving?" he bit out._

_"Harry," Claire admonished. "I thought you were past this already."_

_Harry felt his face flush and he looked towards Claire. "I am. Or well I was, but he"_ — _Harry gestured wildly in David's direction_ — _"keeps reminding me."_

_"I'm not trying to." David deflated. "I just know you, and I know that you're not working to your full potential."_

_Harry's mouth dropped open. "My full potential? Are you serious?" Harry stood up from the desk and narrowed his eyes. "How can you say that to me right now? I'm trying to overcome the fact that my career is being semi-upheaved, and you have the nerve to say I'm not working to the best of my abilities?" The word was suddenly punctuated with the three stumbling as the ship rocked violently against the storm._

_Harry flew into the desk, jostling his laptop into the wall, and Claire fell into David who caught her at the last second. The cabin went silent, save for the sounds of their harsh breathing, and the wind howling around the boat._

_Harry looked up to the ceiling, and then back to David, stating calmly, "I'm upset about the changes that are going to happen to me, but it doesn't mean that I'm not incredibly happy for you two and the journey you're about to embark on, because I am. Believe me, I am. I just need some time to process it. I know you're a fixer, and a teacher, it's what you do, but hounding me like this isn't going to allow me to be okay."_

_"Will you at least stop ignoring us, and tell us what you want?" Claire whispered._

_"What I want, is for us to not fight," Harry whispered dejectedly. He didn't tell them that what he wanted was for this trip to never have happened. But ultimately, what he really wanted was his own brand of a new journey._

The scraping of chair pulled Harry out of his head. "Well lads, looks like I'm sweeping the table." Louis laid down a four of a kind of kings with a smirk. Groans emanated from the men and they threw down their cards with huffs.

Louis stood and gathered the slips of paper, distributing the tasks to everyone and causing muttered curses. Louis' hand brushed his as he handed him a slip of paper. He barely glanced at it because he was too preoccupied with the thought of caressing Louis' hand further. He was going mental.

Harry's foot jiggled as Louis stretched and said, "Well, now that I've won, here's a good place to call it quits. Bed time I think." He walked towards the door.

_Make a move._

Harry stood up abruptly, floundering for an excuse. "Louis, is there somewhere I can take a shower?" He made a show of running his hand through his grimy hair, getting caught in the rain earlier truly had left it matted down and feeling gritty.

"Uh yeah, I'll take you to the one in the clinic." Louis' eyes shifted uneasily.

"No can do Tommo, the shower handle is broken. I meant to fix it today, but I forgot." Liam shrugged.

"Just take him to the one in your room," Niall suggested.

Louis nodded his head jerkily, his eyes flashing to Harry and then he swiftly moved through the door.

Harry mumbled good night to the others and silently followed Louis down the hall. His eyes trained on the expanse of Louis’ back, watching the muscles ripple under his T-shirt. The building was dark, most of the lights off pre-emptively in case of a power outage.

Louis turned down a hall Harry hadn't been down yet, then stopped outside of his door. He fumbled with his keys, and Harry stepped up close behind him, lifting a finger to reach out to touch, to rid the growing distance between them.

Louis pushed through the door before he could make contact, throwing his keys on the table in the front entry which made a loud clatter in the silence of the room.

Louis pointed. "Bathroom's there, towels are under the sink, I'm going to just make sure the backup generator's scheduled to kick in if the power goes. Don't snoop through my stuff." And then he was gone out of the room with a click of the door.

Harry proceeded to snoop.

He stared at the room, it was larger than his on the mainland, and much more lived in. Photographs and various pieces of paper scattered the walls, held up by loosely placed tacks. His best guess of the people contained in them was various family members, as Louis wasn't in many of the pictures. Harry imagined he had printed them off from emails which updated him on their lives in England.

A bookshelf lined with textbooks, some by Jane Goodall, almost all anthropological, with some variation of the words primate, or behaviour in the title, stood in the corner of the room. A couple of novels accompanied the textbooks, _The Road_ by Cormac McCarthy, and _Freedom_ , by Jonathan Franzen. The TV stand stood in the centre of the wall with a small flatscreen on top, a closed laptop connected underneath, and a stack of movies beside it about to tumble over.

Harry turned around in a circle, humming thoughtfully to himself as he came to face the bed, which was currently made up in pristine condition. The corners were pulled tight and the pillows fluffed up immaculately. An image flashed through his mind of rumpled sheets, pillows thrown to the floor, and sweat slicked skin. He swallowed thickly.

He turned his attention to the bathroom and walked in, turning the shower on to let the water warm up. He rifled through Louis' medicine cabinet, examining the different products that he had. He uncapped the shaving cream and aftershave, sniffing unashamedly, his toes curling at the familiar smell.

He folded his clothes and placed them on the counter, stepping under the hot spray and sighing in relief as he felt the rainwater and whatever else, wash away. Louis’ shampoo and soap was unscented and almost running out, he noticed, squirting the last remnants of the liquid out with a loud, unappealing noise.

He stepped out just as he heard the door open. The steam from the shower had fogged up the mirror, so Harry lifted a finger and drew something, squinting his eyes at the poorly drawn image of the mandrill. He wrote the word beside it and then in brackets, Louis’ name.

He opened the door, one towel slopped around his waist, the other he was rubbing all over his head, blocking his vision as he re-entered the room. Louis had fluffier towels, and he commented on this as he exited the bathroom, a trail of steam behind him.

When Louis made no comment on his remark, he pulled the towel off his head and came face to face with Louis staring at him, or rather his chest.

Harry looked down, and not noticing anything out of place, raised an eyebrow.

“Err, I bought my own towels. The one’s here were too scratchy,” Louis finally muttered.

Harry huffed a laugh at the high maintenance act, wandering back into the bathroom to squirt some lotion onto his palm, rubbing it over his elbows and arms.

Louis hadn’t moved from his position. He was holding what looked like a folded pair of track pants. Harry wiped some excess lotion onto his chest, and then held out an expectant hand.

Louis still didn’t move.

Harry raised an eyebrow. “Are you going to give me the clothes?”

Louis’ eye twitched and he squeezed the pair of track pants reflexively. “No.”

Harry’s skin prickled under Louis’ continued stare, and his cock twitched under the towel. He rubbed in the lotion on his chest, eyeing Louis bemusedly. “Alright. Where am I sleeping?”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Louis muttered before throwing the clothing down and yanking on the towel wrapped around Harry’s waist to pull him forward.

Harry yelped, grabbing the tied end to keep it from falling down and exposing his bits, his other hand came up to grip Louis’ shoulder

“Louis,” he breathed.

Louis pushed up into his space, searing their mouths together with parted lips. Harry breathed in through his nose and slotted his lips against Louis’, warm and slick, plush against his, and frantic in their movement to claim him. Louis separated them with a slight push to his chest, maneuvering Harry so that he could push him down onto the bed.

Harry floundered in the sudden change, not knowing what Louis wanted. Louis changed his mind again and yanked Harry back up to stand, only to rip his towel away from him and throw it to the ground.

The cool air hit his lower regions and he shook slightly at the rough treatment, being thrown down again onto the bed while Louis suddenly dropped to his knees.

Harry sucked in a breath when Louis licked his palm and began stroking his cock. Harry moaned at the sudden sensations overwhelming him. Louis' hand was diligent, with fast strokes, his cockhead appearing and disappearing through his fist. Louis twisted his hand on the downstroke, and then suddenly warm heat enveloped him, as Louis swallowed his cock, hollowing his cheeks and sucking thoroughly, bobbing his head while still pumping the rest of the shaft.

Harry groaned and splayed his hands behind his back on the duvet, his abdomen contracting reflexively. “Ohh, Louis. That feels—so good,” he panted out.

Louis ran his hands up and down Harry’s legs through his sparse hair, scratching lightly across the tender flesh of his thighs. His legs twitched, accidentally squeezing Louis’ shoulders. He received a pinch on his upper thigh for his actions and Harry moaned, thrusting upwards slightly, the pain only adding to his heightened senses.

A flash of lightning and a high pitched squeal, followed by the lights flickering off, jolted Harry and he accidentally thrusted further down Louis’s throat, his now semi-hard cock nearly hitting the back. The rumble of the thunder drowned out the surprised sound that came from Louis, and he pulled his mouth off with an obscene slurp, Harry’s cock all wet with spit, and Louis used it to ease the glide as he dragged his hand over the length.

“You’re not being fair,” Harry breathed.

Louis looked up under his lashes. “Why’s that?” He flicked his tongue out and laved over the slit of his cockhead. His cock twitched in response, and Harry tried to move his hips up towards the hot mouth, but Louis pushed them back down on the bed with a hard push.

“Because you’re at—attacking me, wanna touch you too,” Harry whined.

“You attacked me in the supplies closet.”

“You started it.”

“And you did just now.”

“What? I just had a shower.” Harry was losing sense of the conversation, his cock was fully hard now, and he didn’t want to concentrate anymore on anything else other than getting Louis out of his clothes and onto the bed.

He surged up, nearly knocking Louis over, but scrambled at the last second and hauled him up underneath his arms. Louis tried to talk, “And you think you can just come out of the shower, all soft, warm, and pink and not expect me to be affect—” Harry cut him off with a bruising kiss, his hands roved underneath Louis’ shirt, hiking it upwards.

Louis broke the kiss and continued on liked he hadn’t been interrupted, “—affected after I tried all day to maintain a distance?” Harry hastily helped Louis shuck his shirt and pants off, sending them flying somewhere across the room.

“I thought we decided you weren’t going to?” Harry breathed before reconnecting their lips again for a glorious few seconds before Louis ripped himself away with a deep breath.

“I needed to.”

“Why?” Harry countered, his hands folding over Louis’, over the waist of his pants, aiding along in depositing them down to the floor.

“For my sanity.”

Harry almost paused, was going to question what he meant, but. “You know what I need?” Harry lifted the warm weight of Louis’ cock, causing a sharp intake of breath and a head to fall against his shoulder. Harry stumbled a bit at the added weight, but gave Louis’ hard cock a few tugs. Louis bit down on his shoulder in reaction and Harry moaned out, “I need _you_.”

Louis lifted his head, making eye contact with Harry, lightning flickered, and they crashed together again at the boom of the thunder, their teeth clacked, lips sucked, and hands groped. Louis stumbled out of his pants and pushed Harry back towards the bed.

Harry pushed himself into the centre of the bed, and Louis followed, hovering over him, bringing the heat of his body closer, never making contact, but teasing him by being just the breath of hair away.

Harry connected their lips again and Louis tangled a hand in his hair, angling the kiss in his favour. Harry ran his hands down the plane of Louis’ chest scratching his fingernails over hardened nipples, resulting in a shiver and a stutter in the lips pressed against his.

Louis moved to straddle Harry’s hips, still hovering above him tantalizingly. Harry surged upwards when Louis tried to disconnect their lips, but they’re torn apart again when Louis pulled back entirely and suddenly sat down, rocking harshly.

Harry’s cock rubbed into the crease of Louis’ arse cheeks and his hands flew to them to help rock him further. He bent his knees up onto the bed for better leverage, and began a steady movement, humping his hips up off the bed in an attempt to gain sweet friction.

His eyes slipped shut, his mind going deliciously blank for a few glorious seconds. Pre-come blurted out the tip and he pushed the head of his cock closer to Louis’ hole, thrusting upwards with a half intention to make it a reality.

Louis rubbed enticingly over his cock, building up momentum with his hands pressed down on Harry’s abdomen for leverage as he panted in exertion. The room was heating up with their frenetic movements, and with the power off, there was no air conditioning to waft a cool breeze over their warm skin.

“Kiss me,” Louis panted, leaning down into Harry's space. Harry’s mouth was already open, his tongue came out seeking tongue. They kissed sloppily for a minute, before Louis’ hips slowed down in movement, causing Harry to whine.

Harry grabbed at Louis hips to force him to move faster, the desire to stick his cock inside the hole so close— but Louis suddenly lifted off him completely and whispered, “Turn over.” A hand guided Harry’s hips into movement. He groaned at the loss of friction against his cock, but went willingly, rolling over, an appreciative kiss pressed into his shoulder for his efforts. Louis then pressed the line of his body down, rocking forward, his cock pressing just above Harry’s bum.

Unfazed by the sudden change, now a desire to be filled up instead rocketing through him. He moaned and tried to shift so that Louis' cock would rub up against his arse properly, but Louis bit down on his shoulder in a reprimand and trailed a hand down his side to come to the swell of his bum. He kneaded at the muscle and Harry dropped down completely onto the mattress, the general ache in his back being soothed by the press of a thumb.

All but the heat of Louis’ lips left his back, as kisses were trailed along down his spine to the top of his bum, his facial hair rough against his skin and leaving behind a burning sensation. Harry’s breath hitched in anticipation, wondering how far down Louis was going to go.

The wet press of lips was suddenly gone, and Harry’s disappointed whine turned into a grunt as his hips were suddenly yanked up off the bed and he was pulled into a kneeling position. He shivered at the possibility of what was coming next.

He dropped his head down as a hand trailed over the back of his thigh. Goosebumps erupted over his skin at the light touch. The light touches were driving him crazy, he was getting antsy, he wanted more.

“Lou—” He faltered on Louis’ name when he suddenly felt the press of Louis’ cock against one of his arse cheeks. He moaned and thrust backwards in an attempt to get the press of his cock closer to where he really wanted it.

Louis hissed, then squeezed both globes in a firm grip, halting any further movement. He dragged his cock along the crease of Harry’s bum, splitting the cheeks apart so his cockhead ghosted just over Harry’s hole in a tortuous temptation.

Louis pulled his cheeks further apart, and his cock snagged at Harry’s hole in its glide. Harry moaned and thrusted backwards, only to find Louis’ cock gone entirely, and Harry swivelled his head around to question, to _beg_.

Before he could, a wet finger prodded the area, his skin still soft and plush from the hot shower. The tip of Louis’ finger pushed in gently, a mere question that Harry answered with a thrust backwards in an attempt to swallow the finger further.

Louis’ finger was too dry though. “Lube—get lube,” Harry panted out.

The finger was removed, as well as all heat from Louis, and Harry whined at the loss. He stayed in his position as he heard a drawer pulled open, its contents rattling around, then the crinkling of a condom packet and the snick of a cap being flicked open.  

Harry closed his eyes as he waited, his shoulder blades beginning to ache from the bent position he was keeping. He rolled them and craned his neck in a stretch, wiggling his bum as he waited.

“Hey, none of that now, you’ll get what you want soon enough.” Louis’ voiced lilted over from somewhere behind him.

The back of Harry’s neck prickled in anticipation. He felt vulnerable, knowing that Louis was standing just behind him, able to see him all displayed out, laying forward on his forearms with his back arched, legs spread apart, his arse angled upwards.

“How do you know what I want?” Harry egged.

“You wanna be filled up.”

“Maybe I want to fill you up?” he countered.

“‘Nother time. I wanna see you fall apart on my cock. Been eyeing me all week, getting under my skin, you’re not subtle you know. Now you’re finally getting what you want. To be fucked.” A hand ghosted over the middle of his back, then pressed slightly against his skin to move Harry into more of an arch.

Harry shivered at the unspoken command, and the earlier declaration, he hadn’t necessarily kept his desires quiet, but he wondered if that was all Louis thought he wanted. “Want more than a fuck,” he slurred.

“Hmmmm?” The finger came back to Harry’s hole, slick with lube this time and pressing in further now, all the way down to a knuckle, the lube making an easier glide. Harry clenched down reflexively, he was still nonetheless tight and the slight burn from the stretch reminded him that he hadn’t done this in a while.

Louis fingered him consistently, alternating between fast jabs and slow curled drags. He added a second, and then a third, and then Harry was begging.

“Please, c’mon Lou, I’m ready, wanna feel you,” he babbled, his hips moving continuously with the hopes of encouraging a quicker stretch.

“Shhh,” Louis soothed. “Gunna give it to you. All in due time.” The fingers left Harry’s hole abruptly. Harry made a noise in the back of his throat as he clenched down on nothing, feeling empty and bereft.

Harry yelped a second later, when he suddenly felt a bite on his bum, then a warm tongue soothed over the area before laving directly over his hole. Harry rocked forward at the surprise of it, then backwards, wanting to be as close as possible to the tantalizing mouth. Louis’ prickly facial hair brushed repeatedly against Harry’s cheeks, making his skin prickle in irritation, and adding to his already heightened senses.

Louis flattened his tongue and licked with broad stripes, then switched to sucking on the puckered pink hole. He thrust his tongue forward, jabbing intermittently inside and squeezing the fleshy globes under his hands to keep Harry from rocking and moving around.

Another flash of lightning lit the room up again, the thunder crashing soon after. Harry’s insides felt like live wire, crackling at the intensity of all his senses heightened by the overwhelming noises and constant touches placed upon his body.

A sudden click echoed from somewhere outside of the room, indicating the generator kicking in. Louis hummed, the sound lost in-between Harry’s arse cheeks.

“Louis, please.” Louis sucked particularly hard at his plea before he finally came up with a loud smack of his lips. Harry heard the the sound of the condom packet ripping and he nearly wept with relief.

“Are you ready?” Louis asked.

“Yes, yes,” Harry babbled. “Been ready for _ages_ —” Harry cut off, sucking in a breath as the tip of Louis’ sheathed and lubed cock suddenly pressed at his entrance, breaching forward slowly. He went still as he waited for Louis to push forward.

Louis slowly bottomed out, mumbling obscenities under his breath with the occasional mutter of Harry’s name. Harry couldn’t focus properly enough to determine exactly what was being said, so he closed his eyes and waited.

Louis’ hips pressed against Harry’s arse, letting him become accustomed to the stretch, the girth of his cock thick making him feel full. He closed his eyes, clenched experimentally and was rewarded with a groan and the withdrawing of hips only to slam forward.

“Ohh fuck,” Harry muttered. “Yeah, Louis,” he panted.

Louis’ hands gripped his waist tightly, and he started up a steady rhythm. Withdrawing slowly, nearly all the way to the tip, before thrusting back in quickly. The harsh slapping noise of skin on skin filled up the room, almost completely over the sound of the falling rain.

Harry’s body rocked on the bed, his hands slipping occasionally on a particularly harsh thrust. Louis seemed to thrive on this, for he tried to get Harry to fall more. Harry tried to hold on, clenching his fists in the duvet, and thrusting backwards in an attempt to throw Louis off.

Louis sucked in a sharp breath, squeezed Harry’s hips and began nailing into him, his cock rubbing along Harry’s walls, no time for him to consider the withdrawal before it was buried back in deep.

Harry eventually went down at the force of Louis’ thrusting, moaning at the sweet relief of friction on his cock as he rutted against the sheets, but ecstasy was abruptly torn away from him when Louis suddenly pulled his hips back up. Harry didn’t have the capability to fight it so he let himself be manhandled. He was impaled deeper on Louis’ cock at the movement. “Ahh—Louis.”

Louis just rutted forward into him, stilling and circling his hips a few times. Harry hung his head down, taking in the sight of his cock dangling, swaying with the movements Louis’ thrusts. He clenched his hole around Louis’ cock in an experiment. “Louis, c’mon.”

Louis ignored him, reaching a hand around to stroke at his cock, simultaneously still moving his hips in circular motions. Harry groaned pitifully, it wasn’t enough, he needed more stimulation. 

“Louis, I swear to _God_.” He went to take Louis’ hand off his hip and move forward off his cock with the goal of slamming back onto it, but Louis must’ve guessed his plan, for he released Harry’s cock abruptly and slammed his hand against the back of his neck, shoving Harry’s upper body into the mattress.

“No God here,” he muttered.

Goosebumps erupted all over his skin, he released a weak laugh at the statement, shivering in anticipation as he felt Louis’ cock slide out to the tip, before he pushed back in roughly.

Harry’s eyes fluttered shut, and he focused instead on the sounds he could hear: the generator humming, Louis’ laboured breathing, and the sound of the rain pattering against the windows.

What he could feel: the cotton duvet warm under his hands and knees, Louis’ cock entering him with long, deep thrusts, all the way to the hilt, his hips repeatedly hitting Harry’s arse. Hands squeezing his hips, moving him in time to the executed thrusts.

The tip of Louis’ cock hit Harry’s prostate, and his eyes flew open, his leg twitching, and he moaned loudly.

“There, there, there,” he babbled, rocking his hips backwards with the hopes of hitting the same spot again.

Louis’ thrusting was frantic now, and Harry’s cock swayed almost violently. Harry reached for one of Louis’ hands, guiding it to his cock.

“Touch me, please, wanna come, make me come.” He left his hand lingering over Louis’, gliding over his cock together.

Louis complied for a few glorious seconds, lightning flashed and Louis released his cock, then left his body entirely. Harry panicked, wondering why, why, why, but Louis roughly pushed Harry’s legs together, straightening them out and then flattened him down on the bed. He rose above him, bracketing Harry’s hips with his legs, and re-entered him in one smooth, tight, push. Harry cried out, burying his head into the duvet, sweat rubbing off onto the cotton that smelt a bit like laundry and a lot like Louis.

Louis’ arms were somewhere beside Harry’s torso on the bed, his head was fuzzy like cotton, so he felt, rather than heard the heavy pants that were blown directly into his ear, shooting straight down to his cock which was now trapped against the bed.

Louis pumped his hips quickly, pressing his forehead briefly into Harry’s shoulder blade, a sweet kiss was pressed into the skin, opposite to the rough punches of his cock against Harry’s prostate.

Harry clenched around the length thrusting inside of him, he had lost track of time, his cock was so hard, he could feel the blood pumping through, the strain in his drawn up balls, he needed to come. But first—

“Wanna,” Harry slurred. “Wanna see you, can we…” He was unable to finish his thought, pleasure rocketing through his body as his prostate was continuously hit, rendering him speechless.

Louis seemed to understand what he wanted however, and he pulled his cock out completely, rolling Harry over onto his back and engaging him in a thorough snog.

“Wrap your legs around my waist,” Louis commanded, his hands went to the backs of Harry’s knees to complete the request. Harry locked his ankles around Louis’ back and Louis guided his cock back to Harry’s hole.

They both sighed once Louis slid in home. They were breathing each other’s warm air, their mouths panting against one another’s, and Harry flicked his tongue out against Louis’ bottom lip. Louis bit down on his lip in retaliation, resuming his thrusts, hitting Harry’s prostate dead on.

It didn’t take Harry much longer after that, his hands squeezing Louis’ biceps, little uh uh uh’s, falling from his lips and he threw his head back, hitting a pillow.

Louis sucked on the exposed apple of his neck, worrying the skin between his teeth and creating a deep bruise. Lightning flashed, illuminating Louis to expose the wildness in his eyes. Harry kissed him, the thunder rumbling through the room, and Harry was gone.

His cock blurted out the first drop of come, and then a steady stream continued between them. Louis reached down while still kissing him, Harry’s mouth went still as his abdomen contracted with the force of his orgasm, pulling deep from within, as Louis stroked him to the finish.

His legs fell from Louis’ hips, and Louis released his cock to lift one leg up and bend it forward, almost to Harry’s chest, changing the angle and deepening his thrusts.

Louis stomach brushed against Harry’s sensitive and spent cock, he was still twitching with aftershocks of the force of his orgasm.

“Louis,” he breathed. “Are you gonna come for me?”

Louis groaned. “Yeah, yeah, you’re so fit, making a mess everywhere for me. All for me,” he babbled, his thrusts turning hectic, the drag of his cock was sensitive but Harry did his best to clench down, and undulate his hips upwards. It did the trick, for Louis groaned loudly and buried himself to the hilt inside Harry’s arse, his cock pulsing with his release.

He pumped his hips weakly, riding out the rest of his orgasm, and nuzzling into Harry’s neck, wiping the sweat lingering on his forehead into Harry’s shoulder.

“Hey,” he protested, swatting at his bum.

Louis moved his head to look at Harry, then brought their mouths together in a deep, satisfied kiss, licking the seam of Harry’s lips. Louis rocked forward, his cock just starting to soften, still deep within Harry.

Harry groaned, his body going lax, twitching as Louis pressed multiple kisses onto his torso, particularly his nipples. He pushed at Louis’ head weakly.

“No more,” he said, his gravelly voice rough.

Louis released a puffy nipple with a loud slurp, then withdrew his cock carefully from Harry, tying the end of the condom and tossing it carelessly onto the ground before falling onto his back beside Harry.

Harry was staring up at the ceiling, still catching his breath. “You’ll regret that in the morning,” he said.

Louis gestured to his chest. “So will you.”

“Get me a towel.” Harry pouted.

“As if, fucking you made me tired,” Louis slurred out, rolling around the bed, jostling Harry as he manoeuvred the duvet down to the end of the bed.

The hair on the back of his neck rose at the use of the slur, and he wiped a hand through his sticky stomach, bringing it to Louis’ stomach with the intention of wiping it all over him.

Louis yelped and grabbed his hand, wrestling his arm behind him and pinning him to the bed with his weight on top of him.

Harry’s heart thudded in his chest all over again, looking up into blue eyes. Louis dragged a finger through the mess on Harry’s stomach, then brought it up to Harry’s lips.

He grabbed the offered hand, sucking the digit into his mouth with ease and licking his come off. Louis groaned, and Harry felt the twitch of his cock against his thigh.

“You’re obscene,” Louis whispered, shivering slightly.

Harry surged up to kiss him, their tongues tangling and he transferred the taste to Louis, who groaned lowly in his throat. Harry then pushed him off to the side and stood up to retrieve the towel.

He felt a twinge in his bum, and a pleasant ache of his muscles in his thighs. He wiped down perfunctorily, then slung the towel over the back of the chair and hopped back into the bed.

Louis had laid down on his back, the thin white sheet only up to his waist, a hand thrown underneath the pillow. His eyes were slipped shut, but they reopened at Harry’s movement.

“Easy curly, too much jumping around.” He flapped his other hand at Harry in fake agitation.

Harry plopped a wet kiss onto Louis’ cheek, then slid under the cover, pulling it up higher than Louis, almost to his chest. Louis groaned and made a show of wiping away Harry’s spit, then wiping the hand onto Harry’s chest.

Harry yelped, “Lou!” And they wrestled briefly, muttering curses at one another.

“You curly cu—”

“Yeah well your dick was just in my arse, I think you can handl—”

 _Smack!_ The hard crack of a hand on Harry’s arse stilled the both of them. Harry’s cock twitched at the thought, and he rutted forward unconsciously. They both seem stunned for a brief moment, Louis on the verge of apologizing, but then Harry let out a giggle, and they both laughed.

Their laughter finally subdued, and Harry snuggled up beside Louis, running a hand across his chest and focusing on the sounds in the room.

Louis was taking deep, steady breaths, accompanied by the steady drumming of the rain on the window pane.

He stretched out his body, running his foot along the smooth sheet and wiggling his toes. Louis ran a hand all the way down his back and settled it on the curve of his arse possessively, patting lightly at the presumably red area. Harry shifted even closer to Louis, nuzzling his face under Louis’ chin and inhaling deeply with a satisfied hum, and letting fatigue pull him under.

 

Harry wasn’t sure what pulled him from his sleep, but he blinked a weary eye open, taking in the sunlight streaming through the window between the open blinds.

He kicked his legs out in a stretch, moaning softly at the pull of his tense muscles. His body ached pleasantly, in only the way a satisfying round of sex could accomplish.

He smacked his lips sleepily and looked to the man next to him. Louis was on his side facing Harry, his eyes already open and staring at him.

Harry startled softly, then mirrored his position, moving slowly as to not disturb their cocoon of blankets, and he whispered a soft, “Hi.”

“Hello,” Louis whispered back. His hands were clasped together as if in prayer, squished between his cheek and the pillow.

Harry shifted forward and pressed a closed lipped kiss onto the mouth in front of him, lingering only briefly before pulling back and blinking expectantly at Louis.

Louis raised a hand and trailed it down the side of Harry's face, asking, "How are you feeling?"

Harry pressed a kiss into the hand. "I feel great. Could go another round." He waggled his eyebrows.

Louis laughed softly, "No shame whatsoever."

"What's the point?"

"Hmmm?" Louis' brows furrowed, his gaze distracted by watching his hand wander down the plane of Harry's chest.

Harry licked his lips. "Like, what's the point in going through life if you don't go after the things you want?"

Louis' startled, his eyes flickering back up to meet Harry's gaze. "That's quite a heavy topic for so early," he mumbled.

"Jus' thinking, is all, I suppose."

"About?" Louis inquired, pressing his palm flat against Harry's abdomen, applying slight pressure.

Harry sucked in a breath before replying, "'Bout how I’m leaving soon." He paused then added absentmindedly, “I don’t wanna go back home.” He trailed his fingertips lightly over Louis’ back pressing down lightly in an attempt to soothe the suddenly bunched up muscles.

Louis jerked. “Harry.” He sat up and hunched over forwards, dragging both of his hands down his face. He looked over his shoulder at Harry. “You leave in two days, yeah?”

Harry nodded and sat up slowly, the sheet falling down his torso as he shifted closer to Louis, pressing a delicate kiss on the top of his shoulder. He trailed his lips across Louis’ shoulder blade, listening to his breathing pattern change due to Harry’s ministrations. Harry inched his way slowly to Louis’ neck.

He bit down gently on an earlobe, and nudged Louis’ chin with his nose. Louis turned his face to meet his and caught his lips in a sweet morning kiss. Harry placed a hand on his cheek and guided the kiss to his liking. Louis tried to kiss him harder, some sort of desperation taking ahold of him with a small moan, but Harry cupped the side of his neck and tightened his grip ever so slightly to control his movements. When Louis settled down, he drew his hand down Louis’ torso, bypassing perked nipples to instead rub back and forth across his stomach while continuing to kiss him. He felt Louis’ stomach ripple, shuddering slightly from his touch.

Harry finally pulled away from the tempting lips to look at Louis properly. Louis, whose eyes were glazed over and heavy lidded, lips swollen from the heavy kissing, and with a slight flush on the apples of his cheeks. His jawline flickered in a clench, eyes flickering back down to Harry’s lips.

“Harry.” Louis blinked sluggishly and licked his lips. Harry felt a jolt run through his abdomen at the sight, the thought of Louis licking his lips specifically to taste him, made him only think that the taste was now gone, so he quieted the next word about to come out of his mouth.

He pushed his tongue immediately into Louis’ mouth, and to rid the crick in his neck, he rose up from the cocoon of blankets to draw a leg over Louis’ waist. He gripped Louis’ waist and gently shoved him backwards towards the headboard without breaking the kiss.

Louis shifted a pillow between his back and the headboard while simultaneously focusing his attention on kissing Harry. Harry started rocking slowly against his cock, a subtle hint of things to come. He kept an easy pace, his thighs bracketing Louis’ slim waist and his curls falling forward onto Louis’ face

Harry's cock was well on its way to becoming fully hard, what with it being half hard when he had woken up, it wasn't difficult.

He continued rocking his hips against Louis’, working up a slight sweat in the musky room, and a hard cock.

“Can you come from this?” Louis whispered into his mouth, pulling Harry’s lip into his mouth with his teeth and biting down.

Harry groaned quietly, pulling backwards to scrape teeth against his lip. He panted into Louis’ mouth and connected their lips again, tilting his head slightly and gripping the side of Louis’ neck with a hand. The sudden brush of a fingertip at his hole, which was still loose from the previous night, caused him to go lax and stop moving his mouth. The finger prodded at his rim in a light touch, tempting him with the promise of filling him up with something. He pushed backwards in an attempt to the goad Louis into doing it.

The finger withdrew. “Harry.”

“Mmm, yeah,” He breathed out, his mind was turning to mush at the feeling of his cock rubbing against Louis’. Part of him wanted to speed up to achieve orgasm, but the less sensible part of him also wanted to go slow, have it ripped from deep within his stomach in a gradual build. His hips slowed down in motion, instead turning to soft little pushes, and he started moving his lips again to match the speed of his hips.

Louis pulled back briefly but Harry chased him, his tongue peeking out to flick at reddened lips. They were wet with spit. Harry wanted more of it, but Louis evaded his mouth and asked, “Can you come just from this, do you want to?”

The finger went back to circling more firmly, and Harry groaned out into his mouth, “Not yet, tease me, draw it out.”

Their lips parted with a smack as Louis thunked his head against the wood, huffing out a harsh breath. “You’re gonna kill me aren’t you.”

Harry felt hands run up and down his sides, finally coming to a rest on the swell of his bum and squeezing briefly on a downwards pull against Louis’ cock, aligning perfectly in a brush.

They both groaned softly, and adjusted their positions to perfect the push and pull. Harry looked down at the sight of their hard cocks in between them, the tip of Harry's cock pressed into Louis' lower abdomen on a push, the length gliding across Louis' in a tantalizing movement.

Louis' hands moved from their position on his arse to flick at his hardened nipples. Harry sucked in a breath at the action and shuddered, his torso hunching over, and his hips faltering in rhythm.

Harry suddenly leaned backwards, ignoring the, "What are you doing?" that fell from Louis' lips, and searched under the duvet for the bottle of lube.

Just because he could, Louis tried to distract him by gripping both their cocks in one hand and stroking. Harry moaned, “Louis—hang on a sec."

Louis ignored him, his other hand pinching Harry's nipple roughly, and Harry made a pained noise that turned into one of triumph upon snatching up the bottle. He pulled Louis' hand away from their cocks and took them both in his own, drizzling lube onto them with the other.

They both watched as Harry's large hand engulfed them, stroking firmly, the wet squelching sound of the lube reached his ear and made his skin prickle. Harry rocked his hips forward while Louis just panted, weakly thrusting upwards.

Despite Harry's now throbbing cock, he released it to instead grab Louis’ length, running his hand from the base to the tip and applying more pressure in a squeeze against the head. He did this a few more times. A bit of pre-come blurted out from the tip, and he circled a light finger around the head, moving the come around and teasing with the just barely there touch. Louis’ hips lifted off the bed in an attempt to gain more friction, but Harry withdrew his hand completely, causing Louis to whine. Harry leaned forward to brush his lips against his ear.

“No, you have come from rubbing against me alone, I’m not gonna touch your pretty cock anymore. All I’m gonna do is rub up against you until I come. You put a finger in me though, and I might rub harder. Rub exactly how you want it.” Louis tried to jerk away from the caress of his voice in the shell of his ear, and warm breath puffed out against the side of Harry’s neck.

"Harry," he said weakly, throwing his back and baring his neck. Harry cradled Louis' neck with both of his hands and sucked at a spot behind his ear. He bit down hard, then laved his tongue over in a soothing gesture.

Louis' hand swiped through the mess of lube and pre-come between them, and before Harry could complain, the hand moved to his arse, seeking out his hole immediately and pressing a finger in.

“Ahh— _yesss_ ,” Harry hissed, rocking forwards harder as a reward and eliciting a loud groan from Louis.

Louis fingered him deftly, wasting no time before adding another, and Harry rocked down harder against Louis’ hard cock. His thighs were burning from the position, still aching tenderly from their activities last night.

Harry rolled his hips, clenching down on Louis’ long and perfect fingers, his hands gripped Louis’ shoulder tighter, his cock achingly hard, the head brushing up against Louis’ stomach, not enough friction for him, but somehow the tease of it had him deliriously on edge.

He pressed a kiss into Louis’ lips, licking at them until they parted, and Louis’ fingers crooked just right, hitting his prostate perfectly, repeatedly, until suddenly, Harry started coming. The orgasm pulled from him a surprise, the steady white stream splashing against Louis’ stomach and he moaned loudly.

Louis gasped, “You just came.” He blinked sluggishly. “Just from that? _Oh my god_.” Louis rutted up hard against Harry’s sensitive cock, and he reached a hand down to help him reach his orgasm, going against his earlier statement.

“Ahh, Harry, I’m close—so close, little more,” Louis breathed into his mouth, and Harry swiped over the head, then jerked him roughly, and Louis’ stomach contracted, the muscles rippling at the force of his orgasm being pulled from deep within.

Louis groaned, long and deep, and spurts of pre-come splashed onto his stomach, his legs came up a bit at the force of it, forcing Harry to slide up a bit and rub against his cock. Louis hissed and spread his legs out, and Harry shuffled down to rest his bum on his thighs, stroking Louis through the rest of his orgasm.

Harry synchronized his breathing with Louis’ to calm down. The room smelled of a combination of their spunk, and sweat, Harry flared his nostrils, inhaling the heady smell.

Louis’ hands ran up Harry’s sides, and Harry jerked his cock once more lightly before wiping his hand across Louis’ stomach. Louis groaned and raised a leg, and Harry yelped as he toppled over off his lap onto the bed beside him.

Harry laughed weakly, “If we keep having this kind of sex, then I’ll _really_ not want to leave.”

Louis jerked as if he’d been burned, then stood up abruptly in all his naked glory. “Right. But you are.”

Harry frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You’re leaving in _two days_ ,” Louis bit out. “We shouldn’t have had sex.”

Harry flinched. “Do you regret it?”

Louis floundered, wringing his hands together, then brushed aside some of his sweaty hair. “Well no, but it was just a one off right? There’s no point in continuing it.” He grabbed some tissue off the table and wiped his stomach down, ridding the traces of both his and Harry’s spunk.

The headiness of the satisfying morning sex dissipated in the sudden change in the atmosphere of the room and Harry frowned. He rose up on his knees, reaching a hand out to Louis. “Well why not, if we both enjoyed ourselves?”

“That’s not the point,” Louis said, frustrated, as he began to pull some clothing on in jerky movements.

“Then _what is_ , the point?” Harry squinted his eyes, his body was still thrumming from his orgasm, but something about the way Louis was acting was putting him on edge.

“You’re leaving, and continuing to have sex will just make things worse.” Louis swallowed, turning around to face Harry.

Harry hadn’t really given much thought to what was going to happen when his job at the facility was done. He took a deep breath and said, “Well we can still keep in contact right?”

Louis smiled sadly. “Yeah we can be friends.”

 _Friends_. The word registered in his mind and his stomach swooped unpleasantly. “I don’t want to be just friends though.”

Louis raised his hands up again in agitation. “I don’t know what you want from me Harry.”

“I wanna be with you.” Harry rose up off the bed and walked over to Louis, picking up a hand gently and kissing the back of it.

“How would it work?” Louis pointedly asked.

Harry let go of his hand, asking slowly, “What do you mean?”

“Is this a friends-with-benefits type thing, or relationship worthy?” Louis stared at him.

Harry blinked. He seriously hadn’t thought about any further than the next day. He didn’t know how to answer him so he grabbed his clothing.

Louis made a noise at the back of his throat, shifting his stance, then asking, “Do you want to be with me, _for me_ , or so that you’re not alone?”

Harry reeled as if he’d been slapped. _“What?”_ he whispered, horrified.

“You don’t like being alone,” Louis stated bluntly. “So are you just latching onto me because that’s what you do? You don’t like being alone, so you stick to something familiar, or something that makes you comfortable.” Louis stared at him with a heated gaze, swallowing thickly.

“I—I, don’t know what you mean,” Harry stuttered out, his voice muffled by the t-shirt he pulled on.

His head popped through the neck and Louis gripped his jaw tightly between his fingers. “I’ve barely seen you out by yourself since you arrived here at the facility.”

Harry yanked his face free from the grip, the drag of Louis’ fingers leaving a burning sensation. “So what?” he bit out, stumbling as he hopped into his pants.

“I’m right aren’t I?”

He pulled his shirt down over the top of his pants and chose his words carefully. “Louis,” he said lowly, brushing his hair from his face. “I genuinely have feelings for you. How do you not know?”

“I don’t necessarily know that you do.” Louis’ eyes met his in a steely gaze.

_“Excuse me?”_

Louis pounced on him verbally, “You even said it yourself.” He gestured wildly, his voice raising. “You’ve lost your working partners, and you haven’t gone on any solo working trips yet, instead choosing to tag along with other people. What if I’m just that person for you on this trip.” He indicated to himself with his fingers.

Harry shook his head angrily. “Don’t try to tell me what my feelings are. At least I’m not afraid to be around someone I genuinely like.” Louis went to open his mouth. “Don’t deny it, I know you feel something for me, just as I _do_ feel something for you. The difference is that I’m willing to take the chance, and you aren’t.”

Louis’ angrily walked into Harry’s personal space. “I’m not afraid of what I feel, I’ve already accepted it, _despite_ my better judgment!” Louis shouted, then suddenly seemed surprised at the words that had come out of his mouth. “Because I’ve been hurt before,” he continued, quieter, “from a similar situation, and then I was betrayed. But at least I grow and change around the circumstances of the bad things that happen to me. You don’t. You refuse to move on,” he whispered quietly.

The words came at him like a blow, and Harry’s heart clenched, with anger, betrayal, sadness—the range of emotions flitted through his chest and he felt his face burn up. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He closed his mouth, pressed his lips tightly together and his jaw clenched with the force of trying to hold himself back from spitting out more angry words. Words that would be hurtful, ones he probably didn’t mean.

Louis took a step forward, a look of regret on his face. “Harry—” he said at the same time of Harry’s muttered, “well, then I guess—”

They were both interrupted by sudden pounding on the door and their angry little bubble popped with the frantic shouting of Liam, “Louis!” Liam banged on the door louder. “Get out here now!”

Louis met Harry’s gaze, then sighed resignedly, turning to walk to the door. “What?” he barked as he threw it open.

Harry made a frustrated noise in his throat, his chest was full of knots so he wandered over to stand behind Louis, placing a hand on the frame of the door to open it wider.

Liam gave him a startled glance, then shot Louis a questioning stare as he said, “I’ve a bad feeling, ever since I called my guy back in Pointe-Noire this morning, he still had nothing to report on Chris being back in the city. My stomach’s felt off ever since.” Liam held up the device in his hand. “Patrick finally fixed the GPS.”

Zayn and Niall turned around the corner. “There you are Liam.”

Liam looked up at the sound of his name, turning back to Louis to continue, but Harry interjected before he could, “What happened to the GPS?”

Liam looked up at him, taking a deep breath with a quick glance at Louis. “They took our walkie talkies last time I was tracking them right, but they left this one behind for whatever reason, just damaged it badly.”

“That’s Chris antagonizing me,” Louis murmured.

“Right,” Liam continued, “but what they didn’t realize that that I had Patrick infuse the walkie talkies with a tracker.” He waved the device in his hands. “And now that this is fixed, I can turn it on and have it locate the walkie talkies since they were inputted into its system before getting smashed.”

Louis looked up at Liam with surprise all over his face, Liam looked smug. “It was my idea.”

Zayn looked impressed. The device beeped in Liam’s hand as it powered on, and a loading symbol graced the front of the screen.

“Mozie also has the tracking chip on him,” Louis murmured.

Liam nodded. “Yeah, so when I pull up both the trackers in the walkie talkies, and the one on Mozie, I can find out how far away from one another they are.”

“I thought you guys didn’t do that sort of thing?” Harry looked between the two men.

They were both silent for a second before Louis finally answered, “I know, I made an exception, I wanted to keep Mozie safe after what happened last time. After the last attack on Mozie’s group of chimpanzees, I made the decision to release him back into the wild with a tracking device after he healed here. It’s just an ankle bracelet.”

Harry was still confused, he went to go ask what the previous attack was, but the device beeped and Liam sucked in a harsh breath, and he danced in place agitatedly. “Fuck, fuck Louis, Chris is right by them!”

Louis swore loudly, then pushed past Harry back into the room, throwing open the drawer to yank out a knapsack, fumbling as he hastily put his shoes on.

“Louis,” Harry asked, “what are you doing?”

“We have to stop Chris,” Louis stated calmly. He threw open a bunch of drawers and tossed numerous items into the bag, zipping it up frantically while Harry yanked on his shoes and grabbed the rest of his stuff.

The men tore out of the room, and as they bypassed the main area, Harry yanked on Zayn’s arm to let him into the clinic to grab his camera. “C’mon, hurry, hurry.” He jumped in place as he waited for Zayn to swipe his pass.

“What exactly are _we_ going to do?!” Zayn shouted, his eyes wide and his hands held up exasperatedly.

“I don’t know!” Harry shouted, turning and grabbing Zayn’s hands to catch up to the others who had followed Louis out of the building and towards the dock.

Louis was the fastest runner and had made it down to the dock ahead of Liam and Niall, and was trying to rev the engine of the boat, but with no success.

“Louis!” Liam shouted, hopping into the boat, the device still in his hands. “What are you doing?!”

“We have to get to the mainland before Chris reaches Mozie’s group!” Louis explained shouting in frustration when the engine sputtered to life but then promptly died.

Liam shoved Louis out of the way just as Harry and Zayn finally reached the boat, jumping into it hastily and causing it to rock precariously.

Niall was sat in the back, mumbling to himself a random sequence of numbers, the occasional words, ‘stupid’, and ‘hunter’ could be heard.

The boat roared to life, and they all held on for dear life as Louis yelled at Liam to go faster, his leg bouncing agitatedly, and he avoided Harry’s gaze.

They reached the mainland in record time and Louis jumped out before Liam could kick the engine, running down the dock and up the path.

The other’s tried to follow, but Louis shouted out, “Stay here!” Waving a hand above his head, his feet kicking up dirt behind him as he tore inside the building.

The four men came to a halt just outside of the building, looking at one another wordlessly as they caught their breath, the adrenaline subsiding, and confusion taking its place.

“What now?” Niall asked, the words broken up with heavy pants.

Zayn bent over to the side, holding his hand just under his ribcage, his face scrunched up in pain. “Ow, fuck, remind me—to do more exercise. I’ve a cramp.”

Liam placed a consoling hand on his back and patted it while Harry breathed deeply in through his nose and settled his camera around his neck.

They all turned at the sudden sound of a car alarm going off on the other side of the building and then a loud exclamation of, _“fuck!”_

“That fucker,” Liam swore loudly, taking off to run round to the front of the building, shouting out, _“Louis!”_

Harry and the others took off after him, reaching the front to see Louis, upon exiting the building, had dropped the bag on the ground, its contents spilling everywhere. He turned off the car alarm and scooped up the rest of the contents, then made a beeline from the doorway entrance.

Harry’s legs took him faster than the others, and he sped ahead as they all raced to Patrick’s old jeep.

Louis was first to reach the jeep as he slammed into the driver’s side of the door from running so fast. He stepped back and yanked open the door, throwing in the bag towards the passenger’s side just as Harry was pulling himself up into the passenger’s seat. He yelped as he was hit in the face with the bag and he quickly shoved it down to the floor before hearing the _ping_ of something hitting the dashboard. A shower of beads suddenly came raining down onto the seat and floor.

“You just broke it.” Harry stared at the fallen figurine, horrified.

The other three men climbed into the back of the jeep just as Louis turned over the engine, Zayn ended up squished in middle with Niall flanking his right, and Liam his left.

“What?! Broke what.” Louis swerved the jeep out of its parking spot before anyone had the time to put on their seat belts. A cacophony of shouts resulted throughout the jeep as everyone was suddenly slammed to the right.

“The talisman Louis! You can’t just break it, now we’re going to have bad luck!”

Louis stared incredulously at Harry, shouting, “What the fuck are you on about Harry?!”

“Look at the road!”

“Keep your eyes in front!”

_“Louis!”_

The shouts all blended into a stream of constant chaos as everyone in the vehicle fumbled to understand what was happening. The clicks of seat belts were heard, and Harry felt Niall’s hands come up to grip the sides of his headrest.

Louis began barreling down the road. “Liam do you still have the GPS tracker with you?”

“Of course I have the bloody tracker,” Liam snapped. “Louis what exactly do you plan to do, we’re not armed, nor does anyone besides me have any training to handle this kind of situation!” He slammed a palm down against the back of Louis seat in aggravation.

“Hey! Don’t wreck the jeep!” Niall withdrew a hand to throw an arm across Zayn to push back Liam’s arm. “I can’t just write off the expense for a new one with the basis that ‘Liam has anger issues and wrecked the other one!’”

“Niall! No one cares about the jeep!” Louis shouted and glared at the blonde tips he could barely see in the rearview mirror. The rock of the vehicle against the bumpy road swaying his vision.

“I care about the jeep! Patrick said it’s already ten years old, don’t tempt fate,” Harry interjected tersely, he raised a hand to grip the camera to prevent it from bouncing against his chest at Louis’ chaotic driving. He hadn’t any time to think about their fight, but now sitting here in the jeep, he remembered that he was angry and dissatisfied about the fact that their fight hadn’t been resolved.

Louis went silent as he fumed in the driver’s seat, seemingly flabbergasted at Harry’s proclamation. But Harry knew it was more to do with the fact their argument was not forgotten on his end either.

“Okay, look, look.” Liam brought the monitor forward in between the two front seats to display a geographical map of the islands and the surrounding rainforest. Two motionless red dots were flickering on the screen next to one another, and a red triangle was slowly moving on the map. Liam pointed at the triangle, “This here is us, we’ve got to go about 3 miles mostly east, a little bit north. They’re fairly close to the river still.”

“Going east’s going to take us deeper into the rainforest,” Zayn pointed out. Harry glanced at the Zayn to see his arms were crossed, one hand rubbing at his tense forehead, his eyes closed and letting his body sway along to the movements of Louis’ driving. It appeared he had already accepted the situation for what it was.

“Thanks for stating the obvious Zayn,” Louis snapped.

Zayn opened his eyes. “You’re welcome,” he stated cooly.

The two made eye contact through the rearview mirror, a silent standoff occurring through simmering eyes.

“Stop! Listen, Mozie’s group isn’t that far into the rainforest.” Liam held up the device displaying the map again pointing just past the red circle, “This ecoregion where we and Mozie’s group are currently, is just comprised of coastal forests. We’re way outside out of the heart of the forest.”

Zayn held up his index finger. “Funny you should say that actually, it’s been referred to as the _Heart of Darkness_ for everything that lurks in it.”

“According to whom?” The jeep lurched as it drove over another large bump in the dirt as Louis turned his head back to give Zayn a narrowed eyed stare.

“Joseph Conrad,” Zayn replied snippily.

“Who the bleeding hell is Joseph Conrad?” Louis raised a hand up in frustration, causing the jeep to shift slightly to the right. Louis brought back his hand down hard on the wheel in exasperation.

“An author. Who wrote about a voyage up the Congo River and all the mysteries about the Basin.”

“Basin?” Harry questioned.

“The rainforest is also called the Congo River Basin,” Zayn answered, shifting his eyes briefly to address Harry before returning his gaze to watch Louis’ through the rearview mirror.

“Look that doesn’t matter, nor does Joseph Conrad, because we’re not even anywhere near, the Congo River, that’s way more Northeast,” Liam snapped.

“Louis, if this is the moment where you want to begin your off roading career, then you need to do it _now_. Turn left somewhere into the forest!” Liam shouted, flailing his arm upwards.

Harry grabbed the handle by his head in an attempt to steady himself. Louis suddenly veered the jeep left and crashed into into the thick brush of the forest, leaves smacking against the windshield and twigs snapping in half. The ground underneath the jeep became a bumpy terrain as the jeep barrelled over everything in its path.

Harry’s body jerked from side to side as the jeep drove over everything, forest green, murky brown, dark grey, the colours blurring together as nothing in their path could be properly viewed. Harry’s foot involuntarily jerking down on the floor to where the brake would normally be if he was the one driving every time they burst through a new section of the brush.

Rocks and sticks could be heard hitting the undercarriage of the jeep, tossed up by the frantically spinning wheels. Louis revved harder down on the gas pedal every time the jeep didn’t want to continue forwards. Harry glanced worriedly towards the hood of the car every time an odd noise was released.

“How much further do we have to go?!” Niall shouted, grabbing the device from Liam’s hands. Zayn had reached up to grab both Louis’ and Harry’s headrest at a particularly harsh jolt of the jeep, trying to keep his body balanced.

Niall glanced down at the map, his upper lip wet and salty from the perspiration brewing under the stress and heat of the moment. He wiped haphazardly at his lips as he zoomed in on their exact location with his other hand. “Louis you need to turn a bit north.” He looked up towards the front seat.

“Which way’s north!” Louis questioned as Liam grabbed back the device from Niall’s hand.

“Wait a second—”

“Left! Go a little bit left,” Niall instructed while at the same time releasing the device easily, gripping Harry’s seat instead and closing his eyes to block out the effects of the confined jeep.

Louis spun the wheel to accommodate Niall’s request just as Liam’s shout of _“NO!”_ registered throughout and the jeep suddenly took off down an incline.

“Oh shit!” Louis exclaimed as the jeep began careening down the slope, smashing through small trees and bushes, gaining in speed as it sped towards the bottom. The jeep ran over something and lost its balance, tipping over to the side, a larger tree hitting Liam’s door and creating an indent pressing into Liam’s side. The jeep landed down on all four wheels and Louis tried to regain control of the wheel again. Harry had no more time to consider anything else as the jeep reached the bottom of the hill and the front end smashed into a fallen tree, and they finally came a stop.

Everything went quiet for a brief moment before they came to their senses and sounds of pained groans emanated inside the jeep as stiff limbs were untangled from the positions they were thrown into.

“The fuck Tommo,” Liam groaned, trying to push open his door. It wouldn’t budge so he leaned backwards into Zayn’s space. “Sorry Zayn, hold on a sec.” He jerked out a boot and began kicking at the door. It gave way after a few harsh kicks and crashed opened, falling off the hinges completely and landing with a _ping_ against the a boulder in a puddle. Liam hobbled out, reaching a hand back inside to yank Zayn out with a _yelp_ , followed by Niall.

“You fucking broke the jeep,” Harry whispered as he stared horrified at the smashed front end. A soft steam of smoke rose from the oddly bent angle of the hood covering the engine.

Louis groaned and lolled his head along the headrest to face Harry, one eye closed tightly, the other squinting at him. He coughed lightly, “Yes well technically, the tree broke it.” He gestured weakly to the tree now hidden behind the hood bent upwards which blocked their view in the windshield.

Harry slowly turned his head towards Louis, eyes wide, he opened his lips to snipe back—

“Don’t.” Louis held up his hand, palm facing Harry. “Just—let’s get out before you lecture me.”

Louis pushed his seat as far back as it could go and began weakly climbing over the middle console. Harry didn’t have the energy to admire the view of Louis’ backside as he tossed the knapsack at Louis’ back and began crawling after him. His camera had somehow remained unscathed in the whole accident and swung from one side to the other around his neck when he propelled his upper body into the backseat. His long legs were uncooperative from the shakiness still resonating within them, and it took a couple of tries to finally yank them out.

Just before exiting the jeep, he glanced back to the passenger's seat to see the fallen Mami Wata on the floor. He leaned forward to swipe up the figurine, shoving it in the front pocket of the knapsack before finally stumbling out of the open jeep just in time to see Liam pick up the battered door out of the puddle and toss it off to the side, wiping his hands on his jeans to get rid of the lingering mud.

Droplets of sweat were beginning to drip down the tense lines of his forehead. Liam raised an arm to wipe his brow, leaving behind dirt instead.

“You’ve got.” Zayn gestured weakly to Liam’s forehead.

“What?” He half-heartedly swiped again with his arm, but then grunted in frustration when his palm came away relatively clean. He finally lifted up the bottom of his shirt to remove all the remaining dirt and sweat.

Zayn’s lips parted and his right eye twitched, causing Harry to snort to which Zayn snapped out of whatever fantasy he had stumbled into and abruptly turned away to walk into the forest, side stepping the nearby puddle, giving it an glare.

“Hey!” Niall waved a hand at Zayn’s retreating back. “You can’t just walk away, we need to stick together.”

Zayn waved a flippant hand over his shoulder. “I’m just going to go look for a fallen twig to use to whack at the brush, chill out.”

Liam perked up. “Oh that’s actually a good idea.”

“Don’t sound so surprised.” Harry heard Zayn mutter under his breath as he walked past him and disappeared into the brush.

“Okay listen, if I know Patrick, I know that there’ll be something for us to use in the trunk.” Louis hobbled over to the back of the jeep, his legs still stiff, and propped open the trunk to remove its contents.

 “Jesus Tommo, what the hell? Why does Patrick have all this.” Liam yanked from Louis’ hands a hunting rifle and cocked open the magazine. “Gimme that.” He made grabby hands at the cartridge box still in Louis’ hands and opened the bolt to slide in a couple of mags he removed from the box before slamming it shut. He handed Niall the loaded gun and began the process again for the second gun in the truck.

Niall took the strap and slung it across his shoulder to rest against his back and pocketed the remaining ammunition handed to him by Liam. Louis went to grab the second rifle from Liam but he was stopped with a hand held up to his chest. “I don’t think so.” Liam shook off Louis’ grabbing hand and stepped back to shoulder on the rifle himself.

“Liam, give me the gun.”

“Louis, look, I know that you’re angry, but you can’t possibly think that you’re well equipped to handle this gun right now. You’re not even in a right frame of mind to, you’re so blinded by hate and anger. This isn’t going to help anything right now.” Liam stood with his arms crossed and a stern expression, dominance radiating out of him.

“I will not stand by and do nothing Liam! He betrayed me, he _deserves_ to be punished!” He jabbed an indignant finger in Liam’s face as his shout was lost to the dense brush, absorbing any chance of an echo.

“And what do you plan to do? Kill him?” Liam demanded. He brought his hands down in clenched fists, the tension between the two men standing off was palpable.

“I—” Louis blinked. “I don’t know. I want him to pay for his actions,” he whispered dejectedly.

“And he will,” Liam replied, his voice soft as he stepped forward towards Louis, resting both hands upon his shoulders as he gently shook him. “We will have him apprehended and held responsible.”

Harry silently stood off to the side listening to the two men whilst still holding onto the knapsack and his camera. He paid close attention to the conversation with the hopes of finally getting some answers to the ever growing list of questions he had developed over the past week.

Niall made some sort of distressed noise which distracted Harry from the conversation in time to see Niall pull out a long and sheathed…sword?

Niall’s eyes widened comically. “Why does Patrick have a machete in the trunk of his jeep?” he whispered.

Liam and Louis turned towards Niall. “It’s to tear away the brush to make a path.” Liam answered, rolling his eyes as he walked over and took the machete from Niall, grasping the handle and pulling it out of the sheath a bit to reveal gleaming silver.

“I’m going to have to reprimand him Liam, Patrick can’t just have all these weapons and tools out in his truck! He needs to sign them out on a daily basis, you know this.” Niall scowled.

“Yeah, yeah do it later when we actually get out of here,” Liam muttered, pulling the machete the rest of the way out and tossing the sheath into the trunk. He slammed the lid down and adjusted his grip the handle of the machete to hold it firmly. “Alright, let’s go.”

Niall walked back over to the jeep to retrieve the GPS, his mouth poised open to say something, but—

“There’s no way.” Liam swiped the device from Niall’s hands, glancing down at the screen briefly.

“Listen, you can’t just take over this operation.” Louis stalked up to Liam, jabbing his finger into his shoulder.

Liam pulled back to avoid the continuing jabs, shrugging his shoulder up to block the insulting finger. “Oh yeah? Watch me Tommo. I’m the one who’s going to lead us back up to the facility.” Liam shoved the device at Louis before beginning to walk up the newly minted path the jeep left behind on the hill.

“I’m not going back before I confront Chris.” Louis glanced down at the device and then looked up towards the other side of the jeep, staring ahead into the forest.

Liam stopped in his path, sighing loudly. “And you plan to stop him with us five? Two researchers, a director, a photographer—”

“Technically I’m a photojournali—” Harry began to interrupt, but quieted upon the glare from Liam.

“—And myself, the only security personnel here,” Liam continued. “What good is this going to do us?”

“What makes you think it’ll just be us?” An arched eyebrow accompanied Louis’ look of petulance. He walked over to Harry, zipping open the knapsack and withdrawing from it something black, rectangular in shape, and with an antenna.

He stared sardonically at Liam. “I’m not completely inept ya know.” He threw the walkie talkie at Liam, who fumbled to catch it. Louis turned around to begin their trek, yanking at Zayn, who had just returned back to the jeep with a stick.

Zayn yelped. “Why am I being manhandled so much today?” he muttered before stumbling along with Louis’ momentum.

Liam followed after the two without a word, dialling the walkie talkie and clicking down the button to make contact with someone back at the main building. He eventually pushed past Louis and Zayn to take up the front to perform the duty of whacking aside the brush.

Niall sighed loudly. “I’m going to have to write so much off on the next’s month’s report,” he muttered, staring at Harry before grabbing him along his way to join the other men, and Harry went with a deploring look backwards at nowhere in particular.

As they began walking away from the bruised and battered jeep, Harry was finally able to take in their surroundings. The ground was damp with the previous evening's storm, some droplets lingered on the tips of the leaves which flung downwards upon being grazed by the men walking through and disturbing them. The denseness of the trees prevented the full effect of the sunlight from reaching in between the branches to the ground, making it seem darker than it was.

Harry drew his attention to listen to the melody of sounds the rainforest had to offer. The rushing sounds of a stream served as a background to accompany the chirps, croaks, whistles, and creaks that resonated from the animals who lived in the rainforest. Twigs snapped and crackled under the pressure of the men's harsh footsteps on the brush. The steady thwack of Liam hacking at the innocent plants that were unfortunately in their way, was the loudest sound as each man silently walked in single file.

Harry walked at the end of the line, the backpack now strapped on was trapping heat between it and his shirt, creating a wet line of perspiration to drip down. He arched his back in an attempt to lift the bag off his back, but there was no cool air as a reprieve.

They hadn’t come across any larger animals yet beside the occasional bird that Harry spotted up on the branches, or flitting between the trees. He could certainly hear that there were a number of animals lingering within their habitat, but they remained hidden to the men’s inferior eyesight.

Harry stopped occasionally to snap pictures of their surroundings. Niall thankfully lingered around to wait for him while the others carried on their journey.

“I think this is some sort of swallow.” Harry pointed up to a medium sized, blackish-brown bird that was sitting in a tree. Its head shifted from side to side, no doubt listening for a reply. Its belly was white, and it had a forked tail that hung down the other side of the tree branch.

“You think?” Niall questioned, walking back to where Harry had stopped.

“Well yeah, I mean I’m no expert, but I know there’s a lot of different kinds of birds within the swallow family, mainly based on geographical region right? Its tail is what’s making me think it belongs to this family. I’m pretty sure that I’ve photographed a different kind before.” Harry raised his camera to snap a few shots, before the bird had had enough of the clicking of the camera and flew out of their vision.

“So.” Harry powered down his camera and turned to face Niall. “Who’s Chris?”

Niall sighed loudly, glancing up the newly formed path and at Louis’ back. The other three were far ahead enough that they wouldn’t hear Niall.  

“Louis should have told you by now, but he’s an idiot, so I’ll tell ya. C’mon.” Niall gestured for Harry to follow him so they wouldn’t lose sight of the other three. They walked at a slower pace as Niall began, “I hired a man named Chris Gabbon as part of the security detail for Liam. You know that Liam’s the head of his team here right, but he wanted to add a couple more members to the team to help him protect Mozie’s group.

“So I interviewed Chris, and everything checked out. This was about…almost half a year ago I guess now. Chris quickly became a friend to us in our group, he worked consistently with Liam so they were close friends, and through Liam he got to know Louis and Zayn, and unsurprisingly, Zayn never warmed up to him. I guess that should have been Louis’ first hint, seeing as him and Zayn have been best friends for how many years now?

“Anyways, Chris and Louis ended up in bed together, and then shortly thereafter, they became a couple. They kept it fairly casual, but I know for a fact Louis had begun to develop genuine feelings for him. Or at least he thought he did.”

“What happened?” Harry whispered, kicking a stick aside, a knot forming within his stomach at the tone Niall’s voice had taken. It was one of disappointment.

“Basically for the entire duration of Louis’ and Chris’ relationship, Louis and Zayn had been rehabilitating Mozie on Bebe. Mozie was a special case, he was only here because he had been injured in his troop by hunters, and we brought him in to treat his injuries, releasing him back in his group after he was healed.

“Mozie was given the tracking device so we could keep note of Mozie’s group from our control room in the main building. One night, we all stayed on the main building after a night out in Pointe-Noire, and we woke up the next morning to find Chris gone, along with Louis’ key, we just had simple keys in the beginning, and a couple guns and a vehicle were missing.”

Harry sucked in a breath, the knot in his stomach tightening in anticipation. He side stepped a large boulder and asked, “Then what happened?”

Niall sighed sadly. “Chris was an infiltrator, and he got the location of Mozie’s group so he and his hunter group could attack them, and they killed about half the population before Liam could arrive to try and arrest some of the men, but they were gone by that time. They had slashed all of our jeep’s tires which had stalled us.”

Harry’s heart fell to the pit of his stomach. He could only image what Louis’ reaction must’ve been. He looked ahead to the path at the back of Louis’ head, and he finally understood the reasoning for Louis’ hesitation this past week.

Harry was a newcomer, just like Chris had been, why would Louis open up to someone when the last time he had, he’d been betrayed? Harry felt an inherent sadness wash over him, thinking of Louis being betrayed in every aspect as he had been.

Niall continued, “The whole thing with Chris really hit Louis and Liam the hardest. It was probably why Liam initially gave you a bit of grief when you first arrived here. He feels partly responsible for what happened and doesn’t want to see Louis get hurt again.”

Harry thought back to their first meeting, the standoffish greeting felt like a long time ago now, with the way Liam acted towards him now, it was almost a complete change of heart. Niall confirmed this a second later, “Liam likes you though, and Zayn never had a gut feeling about you.”

Harry warmed at the compliment. “And you?” he asked.

Niall laughed. “Yeah mean, you’re a helluva lot nicer and more helpful than Chris ever was. I should have known, when I did his background check. He was a resident of the Pointe-Noire, and at the time I didn’t think anything of it. I also realized later that he was always a little too curious about the control room and Mozie’s locations. Kept demanding questions from me about how the facility ran. Whereas you’re the opposite, you ask questions about the chimps themselves, and that to me mate, makes all the difference in the world.”

Harry nodded, his chest swelling with pride, now if only Louis could realize that he wasn’t _anything_ like this Chris character. He frowned at the thought of Louis battling against his better judgement, as he’d stated earlier, wanting to be with Harry, but hesitant because of what happened last time.

It was a truly horrible situation, to be intimate with someone meant developing a level of trust, and then to have it all have been an illusion, experiencing betrayal in your heart from another human, the same very human who then elected to go out and attack something you value deeply.

_“Fucking fuck!”_

Harry snapped his head towards the direction of the swearing coming from Louis, and the high pitched giggle that followed from Liam.

Niall and Harry rejoined the others to catch Louis frantically wiping his face off, his eyes scrunched up and mouth puckered in distaste. He spat a few times into the brush, wiping his hand on Liam standing beside him, who yelped and jumped away from him.

_“Louis!”_

“What happened?” Harry asked.

Zayn turned to look at him with a small grin. “Walked into a spider web didn’t he?”

“Fuck off,” Louis snapped, glaring at the back of Zayn’s head.

Zayn turned to look at him. “You deserved it. I hope the spider’s on you, crawling underneath your shirt, or even better, down towards your di—”

Zayn cut off as the sound of rustling leaves interrupted him from somewhere around them, and the men jumped, their heads swivelling around in search of the source.

“Was that a mandrill?” Louis asked. “Holy fuck, we are so dead if it was.”

“Louis, don’t be dramatic.” Zayn rolled his eyes.

“Excuse you, you know how dangerous they are,” Louis stated, affronted.

“To be honest, I’d be more concerned with smaller things crawling around under the bushes, sliding across our feet. What if it’s poisonous?” Niall shrugged and lifted a foot hesitantly off the ground.

“Which is better, to see it coming, or to not see it at all?” Liam asked.

A leaf suddenly floated down into Harry’s peripheral vision, he frowned and watched it flutter to the ground. A second later, another leaf trickled down from above and Harry slowly rose his gaze upwards to catch a flash of something red swinging from the branches.

His mouth dropped open and he went to to interrupt their squabbling.

“I dunno mate, I think I’d rather see it coming, I’d have a pretty good chance at besting it. Dunno bout you lot though.” Louis made a show of looking them up and down from head to toe.

Harry shifted his gaze eye level again, noticing the Zayn had seen them as well and was making an awed face, his mouth fallen open, and neck craned as he gazed upwards.

“Well if you think about it, beings smaller than us are way more afraid us, then we should be of them. Statistically speaking. So just don’t provide the small being a reason to attack you.” Niall offered.

Harry went to grab Niall elbow to draw his attention. “Niall—”

Louis folded his arms and barked out, “Well you can take your statistics and _shove them up—_ ”

 _“Would everybody be quiet?!”_ Zayn whisper shouted. “Look up,” he breathed. He grabbed Liam’s chin and tilted it upwards to the canopy.

Louis sucked in a sharp breath, then breathed out quietly, “Red colobus.”

 _“Philicolobus,”_ Zayn corrected.

Harry looked up to the primates, their underbellies were white, as well as their feet, and blood orange coloured their backs, with black hair on the nape on their necks. They were smaller than chimpanzees and had long, curled tails and bearded faces.

There were probably almost twenty of them jumping and swinging above in the canopy of the trees. They made little noise other than the rustling of their swinging through the branches which caused a shower of leaves to rain down on the men.

Harry pulled his camera up and clicked a few pictures, capturing some of colobus’ in the exact moment of their swing to another branch. Some walked along the length of the branches, then jumped to the next tree.

“Neat-o,” Harry murmured.

Niall snorted softly beside him, turning his head to grin at Harry.

A sudden thought occurred to Harry, "Wait, are these the ones that chimps will sometimes hunt?" he asked.

Zayn looked at him over his shoulder and nodded. "Yep."

Harry frowned and then looked back up to catch a slower colobus trailing behind the rest of the group, struggling to keep up. It was waddling awkwardly along the branches, and would definitely be a future target.

The train of red finally disappeared further into the rainforest, and Liam started up their trek again.

As the sun rose further into the ski, day got hotter, and the men got quieter and more agitated. They must've been walking for what seemed like hours, their pace made slower by the obstacles in their path and the unknown of what lay ahead.

Liam's steady hacking at the brush dulled into the background, and Harry's vision became a haze of green, his eyes trained on the ground in front of him on the path, weary of tripping over any fallen logs or hidden stones.

He felt his chest beginning to squeeze, unaccustomed to exerting physical activity in the thick heat. His mind was blank, focusing only on the continuous stream of sweat dripping down his neck. He had long since thrown his hair up into a bun, and some loose tendrils had fallen out and were now stuck to the side of his neck.

Since he hadn’t been paying attention, he crashed into Niall's back with an oomph, bringing his hands up to steady himself and prevent his body from touching the gun. Niall brought his hands backwards and held onto Harry's back, effectively trapping him in place and shushing him.

Harry's skin prickled at the command, stilling his wiggling around when he realized that all of the sounds in the rainforest were suddenly gone. There was absolutely no sign of life except for their heavy breathing.

Then he heard something. The sound of a metal clang, somewhere ahead of them into the distance.

He leaned forward, his head poking over Niall's shoulder. "What's going on?"

Niall shushed him again and pointed at Liam.

Liam, who licked his lips and wiped his sweaty brow with the back of his hand. He beckoned the men forward and they all crowded around in a huddle.

"Okay. According to the GPS, Mozie, is right here," he pointed at a small red circle right beside the triangle, " and we're right by them, and the walkie talkie signal is a little further away. I'm betting they've got Mozie, either trapped or dea—”

"Don't say it," Louis snapped.

Liam gave him a levelled stare, then swallowed and nodded. "There's bound to be a number of chimps trapped. I don't know if they’ve choosen to kill some of them here, or trap them and kill them later, so—”

Louis finished the thought, "So we free as many as we can."

"How are we going to unlock the cages?" Zayn asked.

Harry chewed his lip in thought when nobody said anything.

Then Niall suggested, "Well they're bound to have left someone in charge to watch them right? Good chance they'll have the keys."

Louis bobbed his head, his face brightening in excitement. "Okay, here's what we do."

Zayn was not one for physical activity, and was not appreciative of having to crouch down in a squat for a long period of time.

He looked to his side where Liam was in a similar position to him, the only difference being the rather large gun he held in hands, the tip peeking out through the bushes. A bead of sweat dripped down the side of his face as he squinted his eye in concentration, the gun shaking slightly from holding it up in a constant position.

"This is a terrible idea," he hissed.

Liam startled at his voice, the gun jerking and he whipped his head around angrily. " _Don't do that."_

Zayn huffed as he shifted his weight to one leg, giving the other a reprieve as he raised a hand to move a branch slightly to the side to gain a better look.

Gone was the forest in front of the bush they were hiding in. The hunters had chopped down most of the trees to create a decent sized clearing as a camping ground. The cut down trees had been stacked to the other side of the clearing, and it now provided a hiding place for Niall, Louis, and Harry.

At the back of the clearing was a train of wagons, all stacked with varying sizes of cages, half of them already full with trapped chimpanzees. They were crying out and banging at the bars, their jaws wide open, canines bared defensively and trying to rock the cages to the ground.

There was a small pile of black fur off to the side of the wagons that Zayn didn't want to think about. He swallowed thickly and moved his gaze to the middle of the yard.

After their huddle back in the quiet of the forest, Liam and Niall had gone ahead to scout out the scene. They came back reporting that almost all but one of the hunters had left the clearing, most likely tracking down the remaining group of chimps.

A frisson of anger ran through his body at the mere thought of Chris. He'd never liked the guy, something about his attitude had always thrown him off. Zayn was the only one allowed here with attitude thank you very much. Then when he had left the incriminating note inside the control panel with a simple 'see you Lou', Zayn had been furious. _The smug bastard—_

Liam nudged him out of his internal rant, and he followed the line of Liam's hand to see the curls of Harry's head peeking out from one end of the log barrier.

"What is he doing?" he hissed. "This isn't part of the plan."

"I dunno, but—“ Liam trailed off, shifting his finger to the other end of the log barrier. Louis was now walking out around and sneaking up to the cages.

Zayn's heart pounded in his chest as he feared for his friend. He knew Louis was going to want to be the one to unlock the cages. Zayn had only agreed because if Mozie was in there, maybe, he'd recognize Louis and would perhaps be less inclined to immediately attack out of just general fear.

Zayn and Liam watched as Louis picked up a stick and began rattling it against the bars of the empty cages.

The sound reverberated throughout the clearing, the clanking echoing out across and the captured chimpanzees energy escalated and they thrashed harder against the bars.

Zayn looked to the back of the stocky man standing in the clearing who turned around at the sudden increase in commotion. Louis ducked down behind the wagon at the last second.

"Hey! Pipe down would ya? You're not getting out." The gun in his hand was poised at a lax position and he chuckled menacingly before turning back around, continuing to chew a piece of gum obnoxiously.

The second he was facing away, Louis jumped back out and rattled the cages louder, some of the chimps turned towards him and thrashed near his face, but Louis ignored them in favour for watching the hunter.

This time when he turned around, anger was clearly visible on his face, and he raised his gun upwards and stalked over to the cages. "I _said,_ simmer down."

The second that he walked past the logs, Niall jumped him and the man yelled out in surprise, trying to raise his gun up, but Niall had a grip on it and they grappled for control of it, falling over to the ground with a loud thump.

Suddenly, a second man, one who they hadn't scoped out earlier, appeared out of nowhere from somewhere up ahead in the clearing and yelled out.

"Oh shit," Liam muttered, raising up slightly.

"What are you doing?" Zayn hissed, tugging at the back of his shirt to pull him back down, lest Liam give away their hiding spot.

“Well I’m not gonna just leave Niall out there am I?!” Liam whisper-shouted.

Just as the second hunter was racing past their bush, Liam jumped out and tackled the man to the ground.

Zayn made a noise and sprung into action, running over to the cages where Louis was fumbling with the locks.

They were heavy-duty pad locks. Zayn picked up the warm metal and gave it a few yanks. “Louis we’ll never get these open.”

Louis made a frustrated noise and looked up at the chimps inside the cages. Some were bouncing around and screeching loudly with all the commotion, but one was sat in the back of a separate cage from all the others. The chimp had blood matted into the side of its face, and was breathing heavily, gazing intently at Louis.

“What—” Zayn trailed off as Louis suddenly breathed out the chimp’s name.

Zayn’s eyes widened and he glanced down to the chimpanzee’s ankle, where the bracelet was still clasped around it.

“But why would Chris capture Mozie? Mozie’s male, they usually capture the infants and mothers.”

“I don’t know,” Louis replied, his eyes narrowing in anger.

Mozie suddenly stood up and waddled to the front of the cage. Zayn had forgotten how large he was, what with being accustomed to the smaller sized chimps he worked with daily. Mozie however was clearly the dominant male of his group, if his size, stature, and battle scarred face were anything to go by.

Louis didn’t move away from the cage.

“Louis, you may want to step back. Who knows if Mozie actually remembers you,” Zayn whispered. “He may just think you’re another hunter.”

Zayn took another step backwards, but then properly froze, his mouth falling open in shock. Mozie had lifted an upturned palm, his fingers slipping through the bars to reach out towards Louis.

“Mozie,” Louis whispered. Louis stretched out his fingers and ran them lightly over the Mozie’s palm.

“Holy shit,” Zayn whispered. Goosebumps erupted over his skin as he watched the scene unfold.

“I”m going to get you out of here,” Louis stated determinedly. “I promise.”

A grunt from somewhere behind them drew Zayn’s attention and turned around to see Liam yanking tightly on the hunter’s arms.

“Give me the keys.”

“Why hasn’t Harry come out yet?” Zayn asked.

Louis glanced at him from the corner of his eye. “I told him to stay put, he doesn’t know how to handle chimpanzees so he’d only be in the way.”

“Bet he didn’t like that,” Zayn muttered.

Louis made a noise. “Yeah well, he’s gonna have to deal with it. Now.”

Louis stepped up to the two men who were now tied together on the ground, their backs pressed up against one another and their arms linked, bound with rope.

“Where are the keys to open the cages,” Louis spat out. His voice was low and dangerous and laced with venom and he glared at the men when they didn’t respond.

Louis transitioned to French when the English speaking one declined to answer. The second hunter’s face twitched in recognition, but his jaw was clamped shut. Sweat ran down both of their shaved heads, along their cheeks, and disappeared into their beards.

Liam stepped forward and suddenly brought a boot down hard onto the one guy’s ankle.

 _“Ahhhh!”_ The French hunter let out an anguished cry and groaned through his teeth, glaring up at Liam.

 _“Where are the keys!”_ Liam shouted.

“Liam!” Zayn grabbed his elbow and yanked him off the hunter’s ankle. “What are you doing?!”

Liam swivelled around and got right up into Zayn’s face, spit hitting his cheek as he began yelling, “Do you see that pile over there Zayn?! The poor creatures are _dead_! He deserves it!”

“Liam, _don’t,”_ Zayn pleaded.

Liam huffed heavily in his face, his eyes meeting Zayn’s in a stare down. Zayn silently pleaded with his, _don’t do this_.

“Don’t be like them,” Zayn whispered, his fingers squeezing tightly, imploring him to understand.

Liam suddenly deflated, then cast his eyes downwards in shame. He met Zayn’s eyes again, then reached up and rubbed his thumb over Zayn’s upper lip. Zayn inhaled a breath and felt the moisture leave his lip.

Liam turned around and muttered an apology to the French hunter, who just glared at him.

Niall continued to hold his gun at the duo sitting on the ground, the gun shaking slightly in his hands, but his face was raw steel, determined to be intimidating.

Louis crouched down on his heels. “Please,” he implored, “tell me where the ke—”

Two gunshots suddenly fired into the air, and Zayn found himself falling to the ground as Liam’s hand had instinctively reached out to press at his back, but it was a touch too hard and they both went tumbling to the ground.

He felt his body flush with pleasure at the fact that he would be the first thing that Liam would think of in a time like this. His happiness was quickly erased however with the sound of another gunshot, and adrenaline spiked through him, his heart pounding in his chest.

He whipped his head around and hissed, “See, I _told_ you they were dangerous Liam! If we make it out of here I’m going to kill y—”

He was interrupted by another insistent hand pressing on his back and encouraging him to get back up.

“Go, go, go, go.” Liam muttered underneath his breath.

Zayn staggered to stand up, his head whipping around to seek out the source.

Niall and Louis were hunched over, and Louis picked up Liam’s gun that was lying on the ground.

Louis suddenly pointed the gun at Zayn, and he gulped, his heart rocketing out of his chest. Louis’ eyes were narrowed, and focused on something to the slight right of Zayn’s head.

He turned around to a sight that made his heart fall into his stomach. He backed up a couple steps to join the others, placing the two tied up men in between Louis, Niall, Liam, and himself, and the rest of the hunter’s that had emerged from the forest.

Zayn’s fists clenched reflexively upon seeing Chris, who was walking front and centre of his group of ten or so men. He walked up to them with a cocky swagger, holding his rifle with two hands.

“Hello Lou,” Chris said softly.

 

Harry had ducked down at the sudden sound of the gun shot, his heart pounding in his chest as he scrambled for purchase back against the logs.

He was now trying to regulate his breathing so as to not give himself away. He took deep steady breaths, but flinched upon hearing a third gunshot, his eyes squeezing tightly.

He blinked them open again when there seemed to be no immediate threat. He peeked out from around the corner to see the group of men standing in front of his friends. He swallowed at the sight of raised guns from everyone, Louis and Niall against least ten others. It was a standoff, and one man stood in the front, his gun was now down to the side in one hand. Harry assumed that this was Chris.

The man had cargo pants on, and a fitted white T-shirt. He hair was a shorter fringe than Louis’ and blonde. He had a white, seemingly friendly smile, blonde scruff on his face, and striking eyes. He was clearly a few years older than all of them, at least thirty.

Harry clicked a couple of photos of him, checking to make sure he got his face. Then he turned his attention to each hunter, taking clear photos of each man in the clearing.

He couldn’t hear the conversation, just the murmuring of the voices. He quickly flipped through his camera, counting out each photo to make sure he had at least one of each.

He fiddled with his camera, powering it down but then grunted when a hand suddenly slammed down on his shoulder and hoisted him upwards.

He stumbled along the momentum of the rough treatment, and was suddenly deposited in line with the others, his camera ripped away from his hands. He huffed out a breath and yanked his shirt back down which had rucked up while being manhandled.

Chris smiled slowly as he took the camera from his henchman. “Oh? I’ve been replaced in your merry little band?” He threw the camera to the ground and stomped a large booted foot down on it. The camera cracked, the lens exploding and Harry winced.

“Easily,” Louis griped, still glaring at Chris.

His eyes darted to look at Harry, “You alright?” he asked.

Harry nodded wordlessly, his hands clenched in fists at his sides and he breathed in deeply through his nose.

A slow smile spread on Chris’ face. “Oh wait a second, are you two involved?” His voice was molten lava, thick, and slow as it washed over Harry. Chris waved an accusing finger between the two of them. “He’s quite pretty Lou, I can see why.”

Harry bristled with indignation at the remark, followed by jealously and anger coiling in the pit of his stomach at the familiar use of the nickname.

“Stop calling me that," Louis snapped, his stance shifting, and he hoisted the gun higher up in his arms.

Chris merely laughed, then swung his own gun to his back and raised his arms in a wide open stretch.

"What are you going to do Lou?” he asked. "There's not an evil bone inside you, why are you holding a gun."

"No but there's apparently plenty of evil inside you," Louis bit back. “Also people can change. You put something evil inside of me.”

“People don’t change Lou. Especially you. Look at you, still stubborn, and it’s still getting you into trouble,” he sing-songed the last word, and the hair on the back of Harry’s neck prickled. How had Louis ever been with this man?

“Who are you?” Louis whispered, horrified.

Chris rolled his head to the side as if in thought. “I’m the same man I always was. I just put on an act for you. Though I mean, I kinda did like you.” He clicked his tongue. “And the sex was good.”

Liam growled out, “Shut up Chris.”

“Ohh, not very friendly are we _Leeyum_.” Chris drew out the name. “Once upon a time you and I were also buddy buddy. Are you buddy buddy with this new guy here now?” He gestured with a flippant hand at Harry.

“Leave him out of this,” Louis bit out, taking a slight step closer to Harry.

Chris smiled sardonically. “See Lou. You don’t change. You try to control the situation around you even when it’s uncontrollable, and you’re fiercely protective of the things and people you love.”

Harry’s heart clenched at what Chris was insinuating.

Chris continued, “And I’ll bet, if it _really_ came down to it, you would protect me if something bad were to happen. It’s just in your nature.”

“You’re wrong,” Louis stated. “I may not wish anything ill towards you, but I certainly don’t have to like you.”

The tied up French man on the ground suddenly spoke a line, looking up to his boss.

“Ahh, did you really think I would leave the keys here with these idiots, and not on my person?” Chris scoffed. “Lou, you used to know me so much better than that.”

Louis tilted his head upwards, his jaw locked tight and defiant. “I never knew you at all apparently.”

Chris considered. “Hmm, guess you’re right.” He held his hands up, then clapped them together loudly. “Well, this has been entertaining, but I think it’s time for us to go and finish up the job.”

The men behind him began moving around to the cages, and the chimps started up their screeching again. Someone untied the two men on the ground, and the French man leapt up and sucker punched Liam in the stomach.

Liam fell to the ground with a loud groan, clenching at his stomach in agony.

“Liam!” Zayn crouched down, placing a hand on his back and glaring at the French guy. The guy then spat on the ground on front of them and walked away.

“Yikes.” Chris made a face. “Whaddya do to him?”

Chris walked right up to Louis, stopping directly in front of the end of the pointed gun. He was taller, and he nearly towered over him, the tip of the gun reaching only his sternum.

“Ohh, and by the way, I recognized Mozie, you shouldn’t have put the bracelet on him, otherwise I probably would have left him alone, seeing as the males aren’t all that useful for business.” Chris tutted.

The gun shook in Louis’ hands, his body nearly vibrating with anger, and he threw the gun to the ground before lunging at Chris and getting his hands around his throat.

They both flew to the ground just as a loud roaring noise suddenly crashed through the trees. Everyone in the clearing jumped at the flash of grey that broke through. The ground shook, and a silverback gorilla raised its fists into the air before slamming it down to the ground.

“Holy shit,” Zayn breathed. He picked up Liam and began backing up slowly towards the edge of the clearing, staring in awe at the massive primate.

The gorilla then rose onto its hind legs, observing the area with its beady eyes, before suddenly beating its fists against its chest rapidly, the hollow sound echoed throughout the clearing. The gorilla’s silver fur gleamed in the sunlight, and then its jaw opened wide in another suddenly loud roar.

Most of the men put their hands up to cover their ears against the noise. One hunter suddenly tried shooting at it, his aim way off however, and the gorilla lunged at the man, running on all fours on its knuckles and crashing into him, sending him flying.

Louis was still rolling around on the ground on top of Chris, landing a solid punch across his jaw before Chris flipped him and grabbed his arms, pinning him to the ground.

Harry ran and picked up Louis’ gun, slamming the butt of it across the back of Chris’ head. Chris went down, kneeling over with a loud groan and cradling a hand to his head. It came away bloody and Harry stared at him horrified, dropping the gun and hauling Louis up off the ground.

“Are you alright?” Harry panted out, running his hands over Louis’ torso, looking for signs of injury.

Louis gulped in a big breath. “Yeah, yeah I’m fine. We need to move.”

Harry grabbed his hand and went to go run, but Louis halted him with a firm yank on his wrist.

“What?” Harry turned around to see that the clearing was mostly empty now, all of the hunters, except for the knocked out one and Chris, had fled into the rainforest upon the gorilla’s formidable roaring.

Louis was still looking at the gorilla, who had now turned his attention to the men still in the middle of the clearing.

Harry looked to the edge of the clearing to see Liam, Zayn and Niall had made it safely to the trees and were staring with stunned expressions at them and the gorilla. Liam made a ‘come on’ gesture, but Harry ignored it and looked at Louis.

“Lou.” He swallowed thickly. “What do we do?” he whispered.

The gorilla walked forward on its knuckles, and Chris groaned loudly from the ground, unaware of the approaching primate.

Harry’s hands tightened on Louis’ shoulders, and Louis placed a palm on top of Harry’s hand, squeezing briefly as they waited motionless to see what the gorilla would do next.

Chris finally saw the primate approaching, and he scrambled backwards along the ground. “Oh shit, Louis—”

The gorilla, egged on by the quick movement, lunged forward and grabbed Chris’ ankle in its hand and suddenly dragged Chris behind him into the rainforest. Chris screamed and thrashed about on the ground, his hands digging in the dirt trying to scrabble for purchase.

“Honest to god, this kind of shit only happens in movies,” Louis breathed.

The trees rustled with the gorilla’s departure and Chris’ screaming faded the further into the distance as he was dragged away.

Harry’s heart hadn’t stopped pounding in his chest, his mouth had fallen open, and he turned to look at the others.

Everyone was breathing heavily, similar expressions laced their features and they were rooted to the ground, too stunned to move.

Zayn finally sprung into action. “Oh god, what the fuck. I thought we were all done for.” He then gripped the front of Liam’s shirt, hauled him forward, and kissed him for all he was worth.

Niall sputtered a disbelieving laugh and then whooped, raising his gun over his head in celebration.

“Ohh,” Liam breathed when they parted, “that’s why you’re always so worried.”

Zayn made a noise in the back of his throat and re-connected their lips. The kiss swiftly turned borderline pornographic and Harry laughed breathlessly, the adrenaline still not quite fading from his veins.

He turned to face Louis, who was still staring at the tracks in the dirt in disbelief. Harry crowded in front of him and brought him close for a tight hug, slouching down slightly to wrap his arms around Louis’ shoulders to rub comfortingly. Louis was unresponsive for a moment, but then he brought his hands up and returned the hug, gripping the back of Harry’s shirt tightly in clenched fists.

“I’m sorry about your camera,” Louis murmured upon letting go of the hug.

Harry looked down at the battered remains, picking it, the lens dangling precariously. “I was taking photos of all of the hunters.”

Louis shoulders slumped. “Damn, that would have been good to give to the authorities and the African Wildlife Foundation.”

Harry tossed the camera to his other hand, then said, “Well it’s a good thing I took the memory card out.” He looked up at Louis, a slow grin spreading on his face.

Louis’ eyes widened and he sputtered a laugh, “What?! Harry! That’s amazing! You’re amazing!” He leapt forward and squeezed his arms tightly around Harry’s neck.

Harry laughed, stumbling at the force of his hug, and buried his face into Louis’ neck, breathing deeply and winding his arms back around Louis’ torso.

A chimpanzee screech drew them apart, and Louis retrieved the gun and walked over to the cages. Zayn and Liam broke apart from their enthusiastic kiss, Liam’s hair was thoroughly ruffled, and Zayn’s cheeks were pink. They followed Harry and Niall over to the cages with the screaming chimps.

“You better stay back, I’m not entirely sure what they’ll do,” Louis suggested. He waved a hand at the chimps so that they would back away from the cage’s door, and brought the butt of the gun down hard against the padlock.

Most of the chimpanzees flinched in fear, moving to the back wall with scurrying legs. Harry’s heart clenched at their frightened looks, wishing he could communicate to them that they were only releasing them.

He felt a hand pull on his elbow and Liam dragged him to stand behind the cages, just as Louis brought the gun down again and the pad lock broke open. He yanked the offending metal from the loop and pulled the door open before running around behind the cage.

The chimps cried out in excitement and bounced down from their prison and into the clearing. They ran on all fours into the middle, but then looked back to Mozie who was still in his separate cage.

Louis ran to Mozie’s cage. “Alright Mozie, it’s your turn now,” he mumbled.

Mozie stared impassively at him, quiet, and observing the human in front of him. He barely flinched at the blow of the gun to the lock, and when Louis swung the gate open, he climbed down slowly, his foot touching the ground hesitantly.

Louis was standing in front of Harry, so he peeked around his shoulder to watch what Mozie was going to do.

One of the chimps raced over to Mozie and was touching his back comfortingly, but Mozie ignored his companion in favour of looking at Louis.

The men inhaled sharply when Mozie took a few steps towards them, pursed his lips and let out a few _ou ou ous_. Louis crouched down in a squat, and held his hand out towards him.

 _”Louis,”_ Zayn hissed.

“Shh,” Louis whispered, then, “Mozie. It’s okay, you know me. You remember Zayn and I, I know you do.”

Mozie huffed through his nostrils and then waddled right up to Louis. Louis reached his hand up tentatively, and brushed it down the side of Mozie’s face.

Harry had stopped breathing by this point, too afraid to startle Mozie and scare him into attacking out of reflex. Niall had long since put his gun down and far away from them to placate the scared chimps.

Mozie turned his face and nuzzled into Louis’ hand. Louis was murmuring under his breath, something too low for Harry to hear. Suddenly Mozie rose up and wrapped his long arms around Louis’ neck, snuffled into his neck and then let him go, bounding off after his companions.

Louis was breathing heavily, his hand twitched, still out stretched in Mozie’s direction, a bit of blood lingered on it from where he’d touched Mozie’s injury accidentally.

“Holy shit,” Niall whispered.

“I feel like that’s our ongoing mantra,” Harry replied, watching the chimps disappear into the brush on the other side of the clearing.

A sudden rustling behind the men caused them all to cry out in surprise and jump around to face the next threat. Harry had jumped so high he knocked into Louis and they both went sprawling to the ground. Zayn was squeezing Liam’s arm tightly, and Niall gripped his hair between his fingers as a man suddenly emerged from the depths of the rainforest.

 _“Fuck me. Patrick!”_ Niall grabbed the man by the front of his shirt and hauled him in close, wrapping his arms around him in a tight hug. Patrick grunted at the impact and wordlessly patted Niall on the back.

Louis merely moaned with relief and flopped back onto the grass with Harry sprawled between his legs, as they heard Patrick and more men suddenly flood into the clearing.

“Thank fuck,” Harry muttered, staring up into the bright orb of the sun that caused his vision to white out, and warmth to seep through him.

Coming back to the facility had been chaotic. Harry got separated from the others early on as they scrambled to clean up after the hunter’s atrocious actions. He retrieved the photos from the memory card and sent them off to Niall to give to the local authorities and the African Wildlife Foundation, before he was pretty much forgotten about.

He didn’t blame them, Louis was angry that Chris had gotten away, but secretly pleased his demise may be closer than previously thought, what with the gorilla’s attack.

No one at the facility had believed them when they described the tale. The sheer fact that they had lived to tell the tale was apparently a basis for it being declared insane.

Harry was now currently sat in his room, staring at the screen of his laptop, his arms folded and his lips pursed. He was leaving tomorrow, and he’d written nothing. Not a single word. Zero, zip. zilch, nada.

He hummed in thought, wondering where to begin. He’d jotted down various lines in his notebook throughout the week. Some quotes said by some of the employees, and he’d kept track of the photos as well as the names of the chimpanzees in them.

His vision went out of focus the longer he stared at the white screen. It was like any assignment, he had the background information, he just needed to _begin._

This article would be his first, true piece written by himself. He thought back to the day in the office when his boss and David had tried to get him to write solo pieces sooner he’d wanted to.

_“Hey Harry?”_

_Harry startled out of his daydreaming and looked up from his desk to see David standing in the doorway of his office. “David!” He perked up. “What are you doing here? Isn’t Claire due any day now?”_

_“The boss called me in, wants to see the both of us.”_

_His heart swooped down to his stomach and panic spiked through his chest. It must have shown on his face because David merely laughed at him and reassured him, “Harry you look like you’ve been sentenced to death row, boss said it was all good. C’mon.”_

_Harry stood up and followed him out of the office. They chatted mainly about David and Claire preparing for the arrival of little Bryden any day now, as Claire had been trying all sorts of activities to induce the delivery, but none seemed to be working._

_David held the door open for him, and he passed through the doorway, eyeing the silver template on the front of it that said Jared Doyle, and then underneath it_ National Geographic _Director._

_Harry swallowed down his nervousness, he hadn’t ever really interacted with Mr. Doyle before, that was again, David’s job._

_Mr. Doyle looked up upon their entrance and exclaimed loudly, “David! Harry! It’s so great to see you!” He shook Harry’s hand enthusiastically, then David’s, leaning in close to inquire about the baby._

_Harry awkwardly sat down, his knee bounced in anticipation as he waited for the pleasantries to finish. Luckily, Mr. Doyle was a man who got down straight to business._

_“Now.” He grinned at both David and Harry. “Your article’s doing fantastic.” He thrusted an excited hand into the air. “I don’t think we’ve ever received such a positive response before. There’s raving reviews coming from everyone at head office and other journalists out on their own jobs.”_

_David tilted his head towards Harry. “Well Harry wrote most of it, and took a lot of the photos that we ended up using.”_

_Harry stiffened slightly at the mention of him writing it, and thought back to their fight onboard about it._

_The three of them had been good since. Well, relatively good. Harry hadn’t seen too much of them to be honest. Their time off from work began shortly after returning from their trip, and Harry had thrown himself into work around the office. Editing various journalists work and providing advice when they were stuck with something. Designing layouts, and spreadsheets were tasks that kept his mind busy._

_“Yes! I could tell when I read the article for myself, David your writing is impeccable no doubt, but I need to look ahead to the future since you’ve now left me in the dust.” He winked jokingly at David, who played along and laughed dutifully._

_“So Harry.” Harry blinked at the shift in the conversation directed at him._

_“Yes,” he coughed lightly, then fluffed his hair. “How can I help you Mr. Doyle.”_

_Mr. Doyle barked a laugh. “Just call me Jared, or J, my boy!”_

_“Okay.” Harry nodded._

_Jared laughed again. “I want you to continue writing. Massive articles, go travel all around, write up the stories, do the big spreadsheets,” he stated bluntly._

_Harry blanched. “W—what?” He shifted in his seat and pulled on the fabric of his pants at his knees._

_Jared nodded. “Yup, just do exactly what you did on the expedition. You can even go out and seek out the stories that you want to write. I want you to become a section on its own within the magazine.”_

_Harry was floored, and his face must’ve shown it because Jared just let out a booming laugh, and David clapped him on the black enthusiastically, nearly yelling in his ear, “That’s fantastic Harry!”_

_Harry’s ears went to white noise, and his mind fogged up, the panic settling in his chest and he tried to suck in a lungful of air._

_“So, whaddya say?”_

He never did take the offer, begging off instead to at least do a couple more partnered assignments with other experienced journalists to get a feel for how he’d want his own section to sound, before he would attempt it all on his own.

Now of course, here he was on his own, somehow still at the hand of David’s doing. He stared at the blank Word document, the cursor blinking patronizingly at him.

He sucked in a lungful of air, cracked his fingers in an obscene stretch, and began to type.

Harry dropped the last bag at the bottom of the stairs, huffing a breath and folding his hair back over his head. He sniffed and placed his hat on his head, slinging his laptop bag across his shoulder and wandering into the cafeteria.

He swiped up an apple from the buffet, biting into it and juice dribbled down his chin. He wiped haphazardly and bit off another piece. The coils of anxiety nestled in his stomach prevented him from grabbing anything else.

He rubbed tiredly at his drooping eyes, yawning briefly as he walked to the kitchen.

“Harry!” He turned his head towards the voice, opening his arms up at the sight of Renee and welcomed her into his arms.

“You are leaving today, yes?”

Harry nodded, then tightened his arms around her and rocked her gently. She went easily, rubbing her hands across his back soothingly.

She broke the hug and griped his cheeks tightly between his hands. "You be a good boy okay?" She stared into his eyes and gave him a knowing look.

Harry nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat. “Can I get your email?” he asked, clearing his throat.

“Duh! Course you can luv.” Renee released him and went into the kitchens. She came back with a slip of paper and handed it to him, pulling his hand in so he was close.

“Now, you put some sense into that Tomlinson, you hear me?” she directed.

Harry flushed. “Erm, I’m not sure…”

She thwacked him on the arm. “I see how he looks at you when you aren’t looking. Goodness knows he made a terrible choice when it came to Chris, but you, I know a good egg when I see one.”

The flush on Harry’s cheeks deepened. “I don’t know what to do,” he confessed.

She patted his cheek. “You’ll figure it out. You also better come back and visit, and send us a copy of the magazine when the article prints!”

“I will.” Harry withdrew from her embrace, slipping the email address into his pocket and walking to the front desk.

“Morning Lynn, was just going to say goodbye to everyone before Patrick drives me to the airport.”

“Hello Harry, Liam and Niall are with the others on Bebe already.”

“Okay, great thank you.” Harry walked past the desk, but then walked backwards in front of it at Lynn’s voice calling his name, raising an eyebrow.

“I’ll e-transfer you the money for replacing your camera.”

Harry blinked. “Oh that’s kind of you.”

Lynn tilted her head and gave him a smile. “It’s the least we could do for you, your photos of the hunters, and your help for designing the website.” Lynn clicked on her computer and Harry leaned over the desk just as she angled the monitor towards him.

Harry’s face lit up, the website now had a beautiful spread, with a forest green band at the top as a background for the four little yellow symbols Harry had first seen on Patrick’s shirt on his first day. Photos that Harry had taken in flicked slowly in a scrolling banner underneath, followed by information in writing.

“It turned out great!” Harry enthused, lifting a thumbs up.

Lynn smiled the biggest grin Harry had seen since he arrived.

“Yes it did,” She said. “Thank you, I’ll be sad to see you go Mr. Styles.”

Harry smiled sadly in reply, then leaned further over the counter and enveloped Lynn in a hug as well.

She startled, but gently patted his back, and he withdrew from her without another word and headed to Bebe.

Bebe seemed full of people, more so than usual, unknowns that Harry hadn’t met before.

All of the doors were open, and Harry wandered inside to the main room easily, noticing Louis sitting at one of the computers with Liam.

“Hey,” Harry said, walking up and placing his hand on the back of Louis’ chair.

Louis looked at him briefly. “Oh hey Harry. We’re just trying to track down some of the hunters. One of them still has the walkie talkie, so we brought it up on the monitor and Liam’s gonna go sneak in with the authorities and hopefully arrest some of them.” He turned back to the screen and began talking again to Liam.

Harry shuffled nervously. “Louis.”

“Yeah?” Louis answered, still turned away from him.

“Lou,” Harry clipped out.

Louis startled, this time turning his whole body around to face him. “Harry, what’s the matter?”

“I’m leaving today, soon. Can we…talk?”

Louis’ eyes widened in realization. “Oh shit, Harry, I’m so sorry, I _completely—_ ”

“It’s fine, I get it.” Harry waved a hand. “But, I _would_ like to talk to you.”

“No, yeah, I do too.” He pressed a hand into Liam’s back. “Liam, I’ll be back.”

“Sure, sure. Harry man, it was good to meet you. That business with the memory card. That was good.” Liam stood up, and Harry went to go shake his hand, but Liam bypassed it and pulled him in for a hug instead.

He slapped a hand on Liam’s back, pulling back and saying, “Glad you finally realized Zayn’s feelings and figured your shit out with him.”

Liam’s brows furrowed. “Whaddya mean?”

Harry’s face slackened, his arms falling from Liam’s back, but then Liam giggled and gave himself away. Harry shoved his shoulder, giving him an exasperated smile and turning to follow Louis out into the yard.

Louis wandered over to the shade of the large tree, leaning up against and huffing out a harsh breath.

“So,” he said.

“So,” Harry mimicked, scuffing his foot against the ground.

Louis started. “I know our argument was left unresolved, and I really hate leaving fights like that. But to be truthfully honest, we both probably said a few things in the heated moment.”

He went to continue but Harry blurted out, “Do you really not trust me? Did you honestly think that I could be capable of doing something like Chris? Why didn’t you tell me?” he intoned, desperation laced in his voice.

Louis startled at the outburst, then said slowly, “I barely know you, Harry. Hell, we barely know each other, you’ve been here for what, a week?”

“Feels like more,” Harry mumbled.

Louis gave him a blank spare. “And that’s not true, for the record.”

“What’s not?”

“That I don’t trust you. Because I do. And I know you’re not Chris, or anything like him. Your actions here at the facility have always been drastically different than Chris’, and I knew it, almost right from the moment I met you.” 

“Then why…” Harry trailed off.

Louis shrugged. “Fool me once, fool me twice…you know?” He paused then added, “I think you and I could have something great. But. Right now, I don't wanna be, a choice of convenience Harry. Or an excuse for you not to be alone. You have to learn how to be on your own before you can be with someone else. Don’t you think?” He tilted his head and reached out to brush his knuckles down the side of Harry’s face.

Harry stared beseechingly at him. “So where does that leave us then?”

Louis dropped his hand and took a deep breath. “It gives you the opportunity to go out and be the photojournalist we all know you are. I know you’re brave enough to do this by yourself, you were brave enough to hit Chris.” He smiled wryly up at him.

Harry offered a half-hearted smile in reply, his hands came up to rest gently on the outside of Louis’ arms, ghosting over his biceps.

He took a deep breath, “I don’t know what to say.”

Louis’ eyes were sad. “It’s just not the right time,” he said quietly.

Harry leaned forward and pressed a quick, closed lipped kiss to Louis’ lips, squeezing his arms briefly. The temptation to deepen the kiss grew, and he applied more pressure just as Louis groaned and parted his lips in response.

The sound of a chimpanzee screeching startled them apart, and Harry turned to see Eli holding the hand of a older woman, the both of them walking up to the pair.

“You must be Harry Styles. Louis told me all about you this morning.” Her eyes flickered to Louis in amusement, and Louis just coughed, wiping his spit slick lips with the back of his hand.

Harry’s brows furrowed as he tried to place the familiarity of the women. She was wearing a mint green blouse and beige cargo pants, her white-grey hair was pulled back into a low ponytail and as she spoke, her voice was soft, gentle with old age which was also depicted through the lines that adorned her face.

“I’m Jane Goodall.” She extended her free hand to Harry, and his eyes widened in recognition before he rushed to comply.

“It’s an honour to meet you.” He grasped her hand in both of his, shaking it gently before letting it drop. Eli cooed at Harry and opened his mouth to display his canines.

Harry laughed and reached his hand out to him, and Eli gripped his fingers tight, moving to stand beside him.

Jane smiled. “He likes you. Eli took a long time to come out of his shell when he first arrived here. But our Louis made certain that he did.” She smiled warmly at Louis.

Louis flushed under the praise, raising a hand to brush his hair to the side. “It wasn’t all just me,” he mumbled embarrassedly.

Jane tilted her head up knowingly. “Bold in every other aspect of his life, but modest when it comes to his chimps.”

Harry laughed, and Eli chimed in with an excited chatter.

“Louis, can you go get the camera set up for a group photo? See if you can round up some of the chimps too.” Jane turned her attention to Harry.

Louis glanced between Harry and Jane before he sighed and walked off, shouting out something and waving his arm at the others mulling about in the yard.

Harry gulped, then straightened out his shirt, shifting his feet nervously.

“Louis told me all about what happened with the hunters. I’ve been studying primates for my entire life, and to tell you the honest truth, I understand primate’s actions and behaviours more than I will ever understand human’s actions. And I’m human.”

Jane knelt down and held her hands out to Eli. Eli waddled forward, releasing Harry’s hand to give her a hug.

“When you offer a chimpanzee safety and happiness, they’ll love you forever. Even if you betray them. Eli here, he’s learned to love humans again, and he does so unashamedly.” She shook her head. “We don’t deserve it.”

She stood up and continued. “Humans on the other hand, not so much. They take longer let go of holding onto a grudge. Like Louis for example.”

She lifted one of Harry’s hands and rubbed over one of his rings. “You don’t strike me as the violent type. When Louis told me you hit Chris over the head.”

Harry jerked slightly in embarrassment, an apology on his lips, but Jane continued, “I was _glad_.” She squeezed his hand tightly.

“Louis deserves the world, and deserves to be with someone who knows that.” She gazed into his eyes knowingly, and Harry nodded slightly.

She released his hands gently. “If you ever need anything Harry Styles, you let me know.” She touched her nose, then indicated at him in a gesture. Harry swallowed and nodded emphatically.

She turned from him and walked over to the group of both chimpanzees and humans gathering in the middle of the clearing.

Harry said this goodbyes to Niall and Zayn, the latter surprising him by crushing him in a tight hug, whispering _thank you_ in Harry’s ear. Harry wasn’t sure what for, but he kept quiet and rubbed his back soothingly.

He was dragged into the group photo at Jane’s insistence, and he stood awkwardly beside Louis, their arms brushed together, and he focused on the heat between them.

The camera clicked, and Harry suddenly found himself looking at his watch with only just enough time to get back to the mainland.

He turned to face Louis. “Bye Lou,” he whispered.

“Maybe it’s a see you later?” Louis offered, shrugging his shoulder.

“I hope,” Harry whispered, and left.

Louis accepted the mail from from Patrick, sifting through the various letters addressed to his coworkers before landing upon an image of a city, the word _Johannesburg, SA_ , written in the bottom right hand corner. He set the rest of the mail down before sighing loudly and turning over the back to reveal Harry’s handwriting.

_Dear Louis,_

_I’m currently in Africa again, this time near Johannesburg, about 50 km northwest of the city in a cave named_ Rising Star _, where a new species of humans has been discovered. I’m sure you already know about of it of course._

Louis did indeed, news travelled fast among the anthropological community.

 _Also, I sent you a copy of the_ National Geographic _with the article I wrote about the islands, I hope you’ll read it._

_Love, Harry_

Louis looked to the stamp to see that the postcard was dated to a week ago. He walked back over to the desk and yanked open the top drawer, its contents rattling around.

He picked up the growing bundle of postcards, snapping off the elastic to add the newest one to the top of the pile.

The postcards all contained some description of his whereabouts.

_Dear Louis,_

_I’m currently stationed in Jordan, where an old Mesopotamian site has been dug up…_

_Dear Louis,_

_I’ve been in Belize for about a week now photographing the new unearthed remains of an old Mayan royalty…_

_Dear Louis, Dear Louis, Dear Louis,_

“Louis!” He jerked, tossing down the offending postcard to add to the collection to address his friend.

“What, Zayn,” he stressed his friend’s name, rubbing his tense forehead in response to the over repeating _Louis, Louis, Louis_ , running through his mind.

“Did you read the article?” Zayn threw down a copy of the _National Geographic_ on the desk in front of him, a large bug with beady red eyes looked up at him from the cover.

“Now how would I have read it, if you were in possession of the copy of it?” Louis glared at Zayn as he picked up the magazine.

“Harry sent all of us a copy of it dick head. Page sixty-two. Read it.” He turned turned around and walked back out of the room, his lab coat billowing dramatically in the wind of his quick stride. Louis snorted softly. The man didn’t do it on purpose, but characteristics of his beloved Marvel and DC Comics seemed to follow him.

Louis sighed loudly again, a headache beginning to form in between his eyes as he licked a finger and flipped to the aforementioned page.

 

A blown up photo of Elsie took up half a page as the beginning of the spreadsheet to the article. The words _Saving the Chimps_ was written in a bold, white font off to the side of Elsie’s face. It was an incredible photo. Harry had managed to capture the rare kindness of Elsie, her onyx eyes stared balefully into the camera, and a hand was curled up at the side of her mouth in an innocent-like gesture.

Louis shifted his gaze to the bottom half of the page, which was white and littered in black text. He began reading:

_The Lifelong Aspirations of Jane Goodall_

_Jane Goodall altered the way chimpanzees were studied by simply sitting amongst them and observing their behaviours. She changed the way the anthropological community studied primates by going against the rigid procedures of early anthropological thought._

_Jane Goodall was born..._

Louis skimmed over the rest of the biography, the contents of it already familiar to him what with taking an interest in her activities at a young age and growing up influenced by her impressive achievements, and thus generating his own interest into the field. He scanned the article which revealed the history of Tchimpounga, and the unveiling of the new islands. He continued reading:

_…But what Jane Goodall’s legacy has left to the community is the lingering result of an influenced, new generation of primatologists and ecological preservationists, all burgeoning with desire to protect the habitats and the primates that dwell within them._

_In particular, I got the chance to spend some time on the new island housing rehabilitation centres in conjunction with Tchimpounga. The three islands will be home to primates rescued around the world from stressful habitats. Whether it be cosmetic testing, or from circus acts, Primatologists Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik, as well as the rest of their wonderful team of veterinarians, researchers, communication specialists, and dieticians have stepped up to the plate to continue Jane Goodall’s work._

_Tomlinson in particular, is an advocate for communicating to outside parties the need to stop the bushmeat trade. There are those that seek to diminish the primate population by hunting and capturing live mothers and either eating them or selling them as bushmeat, while their infants are sold as pets. As a result of this, the chimpanzee population is increasingly becoming a male based one. The hunting of the chimpanzees dwindles down the population making it unsustainable because like with most species, it needs females to reproduce._

_Tomlinson has initiated a number of different programs with the hopes of educating society about the changes hunting creates in the social structure of not just chimpanzee groups, but other primate groups like Mandrills, whose population numbers are also rapidly dwindling._

_Primatologists have noticed the great change within the groups themselves, as alarm calls have been altered to warn one another against the presence of humans. Malik, who studies the communicative behaviours of primates is saddened by the development, as he states that it makes it difficult now for the chimps within the wild to trust any humans they see._

Louis skimmed through more of the article which began talking about the initiatives to bring awareness to society and the educational programs. Harry’s descriptions were accurate, mentioning how those outside of the geographical regions where primates lived could also become involved.

It was a well written article, accompanied by stunning photographs of the facility, as well as shots of Louis’ coworkers working with various primates. Harry had labelled the photos based on the name of each chimp featured within it.

_A quote by Tomlinson that has since stuck with me since my time there:_

_“Humans are violent, why are you surprised that something so close to us in our DNA structure is being hunted down, when we have so much violence occurring within our own society based on trivial things like race, and gender?”_

Louis thought back to that day, it was the first day he’d met Harry. He’d been telling him about the illegal bushmeat trade and the resulting consequences. He didn’t remember specifically saying that sentence, but with his usual passion about the topic and willingness to debate the topic, he’d no doubt he had said it.

The guilt came to his mind again as it seemed to be doing these days whenever he thought about Harry. Christ, he should have just told Harry about Chris near the beginning, rather than let Niall tell him.

Niall hadn’t been contrite when Louis had later confronted him after the whole debacle and Harry’s departure.

_“He deserved to know Louis! You know deep down that Harry’s nowhere near the kind of guy that Chris is. My gut tells me that, just like it did when I initially hired Chris. I’ll never not trust myself again.” Niall had walked away shortly after his declaration, but Louis didn’t let him get far._

_He’d run after him. “Alright I’m sorry. I’m not mad at you, I guess I’m more mad at myself for not telling Harry.”_

_“You’re damn right you’re not mad at me.” Niall jabbed a finger at Louis’ shoulder. Louis raised a hand to catch the offending finger and twisted it backwards. “Oww!”_

_Louis let his finger go. “We cool?”_

_Niall met Louis’ eyes, the tense lines in his forehead disappearing as blue met blue and softened._

_“Yeah man, don’t reckon I could stay mad at you for very long anyways.” Niall rolled his eyes and clapped a hand on Louis’ shoulder before leaving the room._

Louis brought his attention back to the remaining words of the article:

_Tomlinson’s kindness is showcased in the way that he cares for each individual chimpanzee on the island, paying special attention to developing bonds with the chimpanzees. The level of trust between the chimpanzees and the humans here comes as no surprise to me, despite all that the chimpanzees have been through. They are determined to live their lives to the fullest, and the Sanctuary Islands will provide just that._

_Louis Tomlinson stands to provide a voice to the voiceless, and a good judge of character can easily be made from observing how one treats those who can do nothing for him, and Tomlinson responds with nothing but kindness._

Louis’ throat felt thick, and he swallowed back the lump, flipping to the last page of the spread, but something fluttered to the ground. He knelt down and picked up a photograph, flipping it over to reveal the picture that had been taken the day after rescuing the chimps.

Louis groaned softly. He looked ridiculous. Jane had made him run inside to dress nicely, and so he had donned an old grey suit jacket, but he’d been miserable. After his conversation with Harry, and his impending departure, he had been feeling sullen.

His smile in the photo was more of a grimace. He shifted his view to Harry, the wide brimmed hat sat adorned on top of his curls. He was smiling handsomely, and Louis felt his chest constrict. He missed him.

He missed watching his interactions with the chimpanzees, the way he awkwardly tried to contain their dangling limbs.

Or how he brought fruit specifically for them from the cafeteria, even though there was plenty of fruit already planned for their meals.

The level of attraction between the two of them was undeniable, and Louis could see himself falling hard for the man, harder than he’d ever had with Chris.

Chris had been nothing more than a fling, a fun, easy going friendship that was based on a lie. The man he had seen in the clearing was downright cruel, and Louis shivered at the thought that he’d ever been with him.

A sudden knock on the door tore him from his bleak thoughts, and he turned towards the sound.

He blinked disbelievingly at the image of Harry standing behind the window. Harry pointed at the handle and he sluggishly moved to open the door.

His eyes roved hungrily over the man, his hair was a little longer, as it would be after not seeing him for a couple of months. His necklace dangled in between the open slot of his shirt, and Louis opened his mouth, only to let out a squeak.

Harry pushed him backwards into the room and began talking at a rapid fire pace. “Patrick once said something to me.” Harry shoved his long fingers into the tight pocket of his pants, withdrawing something from it. It was the blasted wooden figurine from the jeep. Patrick had given him _so much_ shit for breaking the charm, more shit than for destroying the actual jeep itself. His brow furrowed and he looked back up to meet Harry’s shy grin. “He said that we make our own luck.

“I didn’t believe him at first. Thinking that sometimes things just happen that are beyond our own control. But. I finally see what we means. There are also some things in life that you have to go after, and change the outcome for yourself.”

Louis felt feather light fingers graze the outside of his hand as it was gently brought up in between the two of them. Harry placed the talisman in his palm.

“I like collecting trinkets from all my travels, as reminders of all the places that I’ve been too.” Harry shook his head. “But, I don’t want a reminder anymore of something that once happened and is now in the past. I want to continue experiencing it. I did the solo time, I did the expeditions by myself and learned how to be alone. I did it, I _can_ do it. That was never the issue.”

Louis swallowed thickly, his heart beginning to pound, and he stared up at Harry as he suddenly felt his shoulders gripped tightly between large hands, the metal of his rings were warm against Louis’ bare skin.

“Then what are you doing here?” Louis whispered. He could feel his hands shaking, the tremors making their way up through his arms to his shoulders and relaying back to the hands gripping them.

“All those times, being with Claire and David, I wanted what they had. It wasn’t just about not being alone, it was wanting a companion to take on the world _with_ me. Not just at my side. And when I got the chance to do the expeditions by myself, it made me realize that I’m okay being by myself. It forced me to take more chances, and meet more people, rather than sticking with who, and what I knew. But, I was still missing something. I hate my apartment in London because I don’t think of it as home, it’s not a place I love.”

He shook Louis slightly in exasperation. “And Louis, you’re not an excuse, _you’re_ what I’ve been missing. I want to be with you.” Louis felt Harry’s fingers grip tighter for a moment on his shoulders before lips met his and the world shut out for a bit.

Soft lips pressed against his and Louis came to life, reaching up to pour out the last couple of month’s worth of heartache into the kiss. His fingers laced into the soft curls, tugging gently to angle the kiss deeper. Harry groaned and pushed back harder, parting lips to accept Louis’ breath.

Louis broke the kiss. “I missed you a lot. I didn’t even know that you had crawled into what I thought was my blackened heart, but every time I read one of your damn postcards, I wanted to be with you on that adventure,” he breathed out, leaning his head forward to rest on Harry’s chest.

Harry wrapped long arms around Louis’ upper back, rubbing his palms against Louis’ warm skin. “Your heart’s not blackened, you merely adopted a defence strategy like a chimp would, to protect yourself from the evil, evil humans,” he teased.

Louis snorted softly, then abruptly raised his head. “Wait a sec, how are you here?”

Harry smiled secretly, then grabbed Louis’ hand to pull him out into the yard. Louis stumbled after him. “Harry, what—”

Harry walked over to the playground where Zayn was holding onto Joe. Eli spotted him and chattered loudly, bounding over to Harry in recognition.

Zayn looked up at the commotion. “Oh, hey Harry.”

Louis mouth dropped open, then his eyes narrowed. “Why are you not surprised to see him? I don’t understand.”

“It’s okay, you don’t understand much anyways.” Zayn patted his shoulder patronizingly and walked to the building.

Louis’ mouth snapped shut and he whirled around to Harry. “Explain.”

Harry laughed breathlessly, he was on the ground, tickling Eli’s chest, and Eli was climbing all over him, his long arms grappling at Harry’s sunglasses and flinging them to the ground.

Louis’ stance relaxed, and he smiled at the sight, but then kicked the bottom of Harry’s foot.

“Ow, _Eli_! No hair pulling!” Harry laughed again and settled the excited chimp down. He rearranged Eli into his lap into a proper cuddle session and then said, “Right before before I left, I was talking to Jane, and she said to me that if I ever needed anything, I should let her know.”

Louis blinked, then waved a hand indicating _go on_.

Harry rolled his eyes. “The write up got raving reviews according to my boss, and he encouraged me to do more trips by myself, said I should have been doing them a lot sooner.” Harry squinted up at him, while patting Eli’s back soothingly. “So I did, and they were great, like I said. But then I sort of got an idea. I emailed Zayn asking for Jane’s contact information, and told her my idea. Then I told my boss, and he liked it, so now I’m here.”

Louis held his hands up, palms up to the sky. “What the fuck? That doesn’t explain anything.”

Harry laughed, rocking backwards with Eli and kicking his long legs out. “I got to thinking about Tchimpounga and their partnership with the African Wildlife Foundation, and the need for raising awareness. I thought, if people liked the article so much, why not have a continuous article? A monthly section in the magazine about the chimps.” Harry’s face brightened and he waved a hand. “Or not even just chimps, but all the endangered primates that everyone’s trying to protect.”

Louis’ heart began pounding in anticipation. “So…?”

“So…” Harry continued. “My boss gave me permission for the column, and Jane loved the idea too and got in touch with the foundation. They have a headquarters in Pointe-Noire, did you know?”

“Yes I knew that,” Louis snapped. “Get to the point _Harold_.”

Harry grinned. “Well I won’t if you’re going to be like that.”

Louis launched himself at Harry. Eli squealed and bounded off Harry’s lap, running around the two of them, his fists in the air. Harry laughed delightedly and caught Louis round the waist, pressing a smacking kiss to his cheek.

“So you’re what? Moving here?”

Harry nodded slowly. “Sort of, I think I’ll fly back and stuff occasionally to London, but my boss wants me to set up in Pointe-Noire, get the ball rolling so to speak, plus Jane’s gonna help me.”

A bubble of laughter left his mouth, and he crushed his lips to Harry’s, carding his hands through tangled curls, breathing heavily, and feeling soft soft lips respond underneath his.

They broke apart with a deep breath, and Eli jumped up in between them, looping one arm around each of their necks, sighing contentedly, and pursing his lips in a kiss.

Louis looked at Harry with a wide smile, and they both laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the story, let me know what you thought. Comments always prompt authors to write more, and are the fuel to their creativity process. 
> 
> Also, read the [Epilogue](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6615172)
> 
> Come visit me on [Tumblr](http://turtlekz.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Or reblog this [Post :)](http://turtlekz.tumblr.com/post/143166105834/turtlekz-turtlekz-behavioural-ecology-by)
> 
> -Turtle
> 
> Ps. There is another chapter to this, but it’s mostly an 'extras' page for anyone who’s curious. I encourage you to check it out!


	3. References

Hello again! So I had a number of resources that I consulted when I was writing this story:  
  
The Jane Goodall Institute has their [website](http://www.janegoodall.org/), it’s very informative.  
  
Second, the [youtube channel](https://www.youtube.com/user/JaneGoodallInstitute/featured) for the Jane Goodall Institute is lovely, it provides a number of interesting videos. I’ve pulled out some that I think are worth watching, as they relate to the story:  

  * This [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2RtggK43zQ) here is one about the Tchimpounga rehabilitation facility, it depicts the caretakers in their daily activities. It’s a really neat video though because it displays the tactile beings that chimps are, and the connections they have to their humans.


  * The story of Motambo in the fic is real. This little chimp is a fighter, that’s for sure. [Motambo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3G4ncfzHt8) is a Tchimpounga rehab chimp. **Warning: the video is graphic at parts if you’re sensitive to these kinds of things. It is a happy ending though!**


  * They documented moving some of the first chimpanzees to the Sanctuary Islands, (mainly Tchindzoulou). The video is [here,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZogsZCW2jSM) and is a series of 5, but I linked you the last video. If you watch it, just listen to their sounds of excitement at around the 3 minute mark.


  * If you’re only going to watch one video, WATCH THIS [ONE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEp1h7GKIao) This video is just an extra, but I had to include it. It never fails to make me cry, watch at the 3 min mark. Honestly the way Wounda hugs Jane Goodall. I love chimpanzees.



  
Some fun facts for you that I thought I’d share:

  1. During my undergrad, I had a professor who was working on finding the lost ships of Franklin’s expedition, and he gave us a lecture about it, then four months later, he was part of the crew who found the the artifact on an island where they then found one of the ships under the ice. This is where the inspiration to include this as one of Harry’s past jobs came from. Information regarding the Franklin Expedition can be found [here.](http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/franklin-expedition/)
  2. There are some references to Harry’s tattoos, can you find them all?
  3. Mandrills are incredible primates, if you’ve seen the second Hunger Games movie, the terrifying primate that attacks them in the pond is a nice visual for you. I was going to try and include them in the story, but I decided just to mention them instead. Oh, and Rafiki, from the Lion King, is also a mandrill.
  4. The line where Louis says, “Everybody wants you,” I swear up and down, was written before the song was released. Imagine my surprise.



   
Again, come visit me on [tumblr!](http://turtlekz.tumblr.com) Bring your questions, discussions, thoughts, anything at all :)  
  
Or reblog this [Post :)](http://turtlekz.tumblr.com/post/139558436149/behavioural-ecology-by-turtlekz-rating-mature)  
  
-Turtle


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